


Sunshine In A Storm

by directium



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Also hints of KevDan if you squint, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Alternate Universe - Teenage Dadvid, Anxiety Attacks, Dadvid Big Bang 2018, If you ship it please stay the fuck away from my stuff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, NOT IN MY FUCKING HOUSE, NOT MAXVID, OR MY AUs, Panic Attacks, The Gwenvid isn't the focus but it's there, You're disgusting and I hate you, dadvid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 06:41:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15018896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/directium/pseuds/directium
Summary: Despite how difficult it is for him to wait, David has accepted the fact that it’ll be a few years before he’s ready to become a father. But when life tosses both a stormy evening and a grumpy little three-year-old with big opinions and a home life that may or may not be questionable his way, David struggles between siding with his possibly selfish thoughts or with the more rational side of things when it comes to doing what’s best for the boy’s well-being and happiness.Unfortunately for David, his troubled past makes it difficult to figure out exactly what IS best for the boy and he soon discovers that he'll be battling multiple storms throughout the night.





	Sunshine In A Storm

**Author's Note:**

> It's done. After six months, it's finally done. My contribution for my own event on Tumblr, the Dadvid Big Bang. With a fic centered around one of my favorite AUs I started; the Teenage Dadvid AU.
> 
> I figured since I was the one to start it, I might as well dedicate my Big Bang fic to it~! Also due to a number of things (Maxvid shippers stealing the AU and making content for it without my permission, my own content getting overlooked in general, just small, semi-petty things), I've been feeling kind of distant from this AU. So I felt like this was a good way to reconnect with my little AU, and I'm proud of what I've written here. I hope you all enjoy it, as well.
> 
> I'd like to give so much praise and thanks to kuzann, who was an absolutely wonderful beta and who helped me push this fic from okay to GREAT. I'd like to thank thesherlockdavenger and dadvidismycanonheadcanon for also giving me nice feedback from the sneak peeks I gave them. And I'd like to thank everyone who chose to participate in this event. You're all wonderful, and I'm so, so thankful to each and everyone one of you.
> 
> Also Maxvid shippers and people who support them can fuck right off because you fuckers have already tried to take this AU away from me, and I will not let it happen again. This is my AU, and you're not welcome here. If you comment on my fic, your comment will be deleted. Fuck you.
> 
> Also also Forestwater gets complete credit for the last name of Greenwood for David.
> 
> Now that that's all said and done, please enjoy the fruits of my labor.

“Let’s see...divide two-seventy-two by eight…”  
  
Gwen paused for a moment, her pencil gently tapping the lined paper before her as she attempted to divide the numbers in her head. Her thoughtful expression faded to one of annoyance, and she let the pencil fall to the paper in defeat as she shot the numbers printed on it a dirty look. “Ugh, remind me again why we can’t use calculators, David?”  
  
No response.  
  
“David?” She looked up from her homework and at her friend, then smiled with amusement at the sight of his gaze locked on the nearby playground. Or rather, the multiple families with kids that occupied the playground at that moment.  
  
Her smile widening, she leaned across the little picnic table and snapped her fingers in front of his face. “David, you’re going to creep people out if you keep staring at their kids like that.”  
  
He jumped a bit out of surprise, and looked back at her. “Oh! Uh...sorry, Gwen. I didn’t mean to lose my focus. But there was this one sweet little girl who wanted to show her mom and dad how she could do the monkey bars and—”  
  
His expression fell. “Well, it was just really sweet, is all.”

Gwen raised an eyebrow. “...Do you want to work on something for another class? Like maybe our home-and-family-life homework so you can gush over the pictures of the chubby little babies in the textbook?”  
  
David sighed and sprawled himself across his open textbook. “It’s just not _fair_ , Gwen. Why does graduation have to be so far away?”  
  
Gwen was unable to resist the urge to smile at the sight. “Only a year-and-a-half left, babe. I mean, not counting college. You wanted to wait until after that to adopt a kid, right?”  
  
David let out a sad groan. “Yeah, but...It’s just so far away!” he whined. “I want to be a dad _now_!”  
  
“I know, babe,” Gwen said. “But give it some time, and you’ll have your own hoard of little gremlins racing around Campbell’s house. They’ll have chubby cheeks and soft hair and the biggest puppy-dog eyes that you won’t be able to say no to, which will result in your spoiling the fuck out of them because you have no self control.”  
  
“...I really don’t,” David said sadly. “I’ll buy them so many toys and games.”  
  
“And cute clothes,” Gwen added, giving his shoulder a sympathetic pat. “And lots and lots of stuffed animals.”  
  
“So many!” David wailed.  
  
“You’ll give them all the love in the world,” Gwen said. “But for now, you have to finish your homework. Otherwise you won’t graduate, which means you won’t be able to become a foster parent, which means no children to drown in the oceans of love and support you’re absolutely going to give them.”  
  
A sad whine was David’s only response, and Gwen rolled her eyes. “Or if you _really_ wanted a kid now, I know a few girls who think you’re pretty cute and would probably be down with you putting a baby in them—”  
  
That was enough to make David leap to his feet in shock—only to smack the tops of his thighs against the bottom of the table and tumble back down again—with an expression of horrified offense plastered on his face. “Gwen! I-I couldn’t ask some random girl to just—just _throw_ her life away for me like that! And I’m certainly not about to just use her for her body parts! And to think I would _cheat_ on you, just because I want a child—”  
  
He fell silent when he noticed Gwen giving him an amused look. “I...ohhhhh…” he said softly, and seated himself properly on the bench once again.  
  
“Exactly, pal,” Gwen said. “If a girl shouldn’t throw her life away right now just so you can have a kid, then you shouldn’t be so eager to do the same. You’ll be a dad eventually. Not just a dad; you’re going to be the best dad this side of Sleepy Peak. But you just have to be patient for a little longer.”  
  
“...Alright, I see your point,” David said with a small smile. “You’re right, as usual.”  
  
“Glad to hear it,” Gwen said, and slammed her book shut. “And while I’m on a role, here’s another good idea: let’s take a snack break because I’m fucking starving.”  
  
David nodded and reached down to unzip the backpack that lay at his feet. “Excellent idea, Gwen! A well-fed mind is a happy and smart mind, after all!”  
  
Gwen laughed as she pulled her own backpack onto her lap and unzipped the side. “God, you’re a dweeb.”  
  
David chuckled in return as he pulled a brown paper bag out of the backpack and placed it on the table before him. “Can I ask you something a little...weird?” he asked while he unrolled the top of the bag.  
  
“Shoot.”  
  
“...Do you _really_ think I’m going to be a good dad?”  
  
“ _David_ —”  
  
“I know, I know,” David said, as he stared down at the apple he now held. “I just… I’m worried. I don’t want to mess up being a dad, Gwen. I don’t want to be like...”  
  
David’s voice trailed off and Gwen looked up knowingly from the bag of chips she’d pulled out of her backpack. “David…”  
  
“I know, it’s silly to worry about being a parent now,” David said softly. “But...what if I screw it up? What if my kid ends up hating me?”  
  
He hung his head. “What if I end up being like...well...like _them_?”  
  
“Oh, David…”  
  
Gwen set the bag down on the table and reached over to tenderly cup his face in her hands. “David. Babe. Darling. Third Disgustingly-Sappy-Pet-Name,” she said. “I want you to listen to me. You’re not your parents, okay? You’re not going to treat your kids like how _they_ treated _you_. Just because they were terrible people and terrible parents doesn’t mean _you’re_ going to be the same.”  
  
Faint tears began to prick at the corners of David’s eyes and he blinked them away as his mouth curled into a warm smile. “Thanks, Gwen,” he said, gently leaning his face into her touch. “I’m sorry for getting like this, I know it’s silly. I’m just...” His eyes drifted away from her face. “Worried, I guess.”  
  
“I know, babe,” Gwen said. “And I think it’s the cutest goddamn thing in the world that you’re this excited to be a dad. Hell, I _wish_ more guys were as excited to be a dad as you are.”  
  
She let her hands fall to his shoulders. “But you’re _seventeen_. The only baby you should be worrying about is the bag of flour we’re going to be taking care of in Home and Family Life. And that project’s just to _prove_ that none of us are ready for a kid right now!”  
  
“Oh my gosh, has Mrs. Kimball announced that project yet?” David fretted, his attention snapping back to more present matters. “I haven’t even narrowed my list of possible baby names down to the top ten yet! Or baby-proofed all the outlets in Mr. Campbell’s house—”  
  
“ _David—_ ”  
  
David’s expression fell along with his gaze. “Right...I...I’m sorry, Gwen,” he said. “You’re probably right, I’m probably just overthinking this.”  
  
With a smile, Gwen sat back and returned to her bag of chips. “There’s nothing wrong with being worried about becoming a dad,” she said. “But you’re not going to be a terrible one, I can promise you that.”  
  
“How do you know?” David asked curiously.  
  
Gwen tore the bag open. “Because you’re _you_.”  
  
“Because I’m—”  
  
Once again, a light blush made its way across David’s face as he returned to his apple. While he could still feel his worries and insecurities bubbling away in the back of his mind, he knew Gwen was right. It’d be a long time before he’d become a parent. And just because his own parents had been cruel and neglectful for most of his life, it didn’t mean that he was going to be just as bad as they had been.  
  
And...and despite his worries, he still wanted nothing more in his life than to be a parent. He craved having a home full of the joy and laughter of his kids as they raced from room to room. He wanted everything from the messy crayon drawings on the fridge to the toys scattered around on the floor to the endless number of pictures that lined the wall to indicate that yes, this was the home of a family to guests.  
  
...But his parents had had all that in their house, as well.  
  
His gaze shifted back to the playground as his troublesome thoughts began to creep up on him again. His parents hadn’t always been cruel. David had vivid memories of his own parents bringing him to the park like the children who were playing here now. He had vivid memories of them being kind and caring at certain points in his life.  
  
His smile fell again at the thought. Gwen had said that he’d be a good parent simply by being himself. But...his parents _used_ to be good.  
  
What if there came a day when _he_ would stop being good, too?  
  
“Aw, damn it, I have to go.”  
  
The sound of Gwen’s voice snapped David out of his thoughts and looked back at her. “Why?”  
  
“Mom just texted,” Gwen explained, as she packed up her textbooks and other supplies. “She wants me to pick up a few things for dinner on my way home so she doesn’t have to go out after that storm hits tonight. Speaking of which, are you gonna need a place to crash for the night? Because she says you’re welcome to stay with us if you can’t make it back to Campbell’s in time—”  
  
David looked towards the sky for a moment. He could see the storm clouds forming in the distance, but he still had a bit of time before he would need to head home. And his many summers at Camp Campbell had given him loads of time to perfect his rowing skills. “I think I can make it, but thanks anyway, Gwen.”  
  
Gwen stood up and slung her backpack over her shoulder. “Alright, but be careful. I don’t want them to have to fish you out of the lake again.”  
  
David chuckled. “It was only once. And I was just trying to be romantic, like in that novel you were reading at the time!”  
  
Gwen circled around to his side of the table, then leaned down to give his cheek a kiss. “While I appreciate your attempt to try and merman-ify yourself for the sake of romance, I’d rather have a human boyfriend who doesn’t drown himself just to impress me.”  
  
With a small smile, David pressed a hand to the spot Gwen had kissed. “I’ll keep that in mind. And I’ll head down to the docks in a bit. I just want to stick around here for a little longer.”  
  
“Alright,” Gwen said. “But call me when you get home just so I know you made it across the lake safe, okay?”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
With a nod, Gwen turned and headed for the sidewalk while David turned his attention back to the playground. Many of the families had decided to follow in Gwen’s footsteps and pack up for the day so they could make it home before the weather got worse, and David watched some of the parents scoop up their and hold them close, their little heads against their parents’ shoulders and eyes shut from exhaustion after a hard day of playing.  
  
His expression grew distant as he watched families hurry to their cars or towards one of the stores that lined the main street around the park. How many of those kids were truly as happy as they appeared to be at a glance? How many of their parents were as kind as they seemed when no one was looking?  
  
He shook his head and returned his attention to his textbook, before eventually slamming it shut in defeat. Gwen was right; he was probably overthinking this and he just needed to go home and relax. Besides, it would take him some time to walk down to the docks—  
  
The light rustling of the paper bag he had set on the edge of the table distracted him from packing up, and he looked in its direction. Something had overturned it, and David could see a chubby little baby hand blindly rooting around on the table’s surface in an attempt to find the bag again. Curiously, David peered over the side of the table to get a better look at its owner.  
  
The first thing that hit his eyes was the most beautiful mop of curly black hair atop the head of a boy who looked to be about three, possibly pushing four. And when the little boy realized that he’d been caught and looked up at him in return, David was greeted by the sight of the cutest, softest green eyes and the chubbiest baby cheeks he’d ever seen on a child.  
  
David was not one to believe in angels, nor was he entirely sure it would be religiously appropriate to compare the child to such a being. However, he couldn’t really think of any better words to describe the child’s appearance other than _angelic_. David could actually feel his chest ache from a lack of breath at how perfect the little boy was, his toddler-sized overalls and blue striped shirt only adding to his adorable look.  
  
He stared at him for a moment more, while the boy stared back at him, before he finally leaned down so the two of them were eye-to-eye. “Well, hello there, little one. What’s your name?”  
  
The boy continued to stare up at him with those soft, green eyes for a moment, before he made a grabby motion at the apple in David’s hand. “Gimme!”  
  
Surprised at such a motion and a demand without so much as a ‘please’ in front of it, David quickly held his arm up so that the apple was over his head. “Woah, hey, just a moment now! Didn’t your Mommy and Daddy teach you about stranger danger? Or the magic word?”  
  
“I want it!” the little boy said stubbornly, and tried to climb up onto the bench. “I want it!”  
  
Well, that was a no. But he was a young child, and probably just hadn’t learned how to say please or thank you yet. Of course, even if he had, David was in no hurry to give the boy his food. Not that he wasn’t willing to share with a hungry child, but he could imagine how it would look to his parents; some unknown teenager giving their darling child some random snacks.  
  
Not to mention, he could have some kind of allergy that David didn’t know about, and he didn’t want the poor boy to get sick or have a bad reaction or anything like that.  
  
“Why don’t we go talk to your mommy or daddy first?” David suggested. “Maybe they’ll let you have a snack—”  
  
The little boy stuck out his lip in a pout, as tears began to pool at the corner of his eyes. “But...but…”  
  
Oh no, he was going to cry! David didn’t want to make him cry! “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he assured him quickly, and reached for the bag to grab the napkins he had brought. “No need to cry…We can go talk to your mommy and daddy, and I’m sure that—”  
  
Without warning, the little boy quickly snatched the paper bag from his hands and let out a gleeful laugh as he hurried away from the table. “Haha, dummy!”  
  
David shot up from his seat and began to chase after him. “Hey, wait!” he called to him. “You shouldn’t be taking food from a stranger, little boy! Also it’s very rude to take other people’s belongings in general!”  
  
“My snacks!” the boy said triumphantly as he hurried across the park with as much speed as his little legs would allow. “Mine!”  
  
David huffed and puffed as he attempted to keep up with the boy. “Please, give it back! Or...or at least let me have my water bottle!”  
  
Giggling harder, the boy continued to run as David followed close behind before he eventually plopped down on a grassy spot beneath a tree, bouts of laughter escaping him as David came to a wheezing stop next to him.  
  
Well, at least he was enjoying himself. And that much energy in a young child wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Still, David could feel his heart pounding wildly as he sank to a sitting position next to the boy and reached for the bag again. “Please...I need—”  
  
“No!” the boy said firmly as he clutched the bag close again. “My snack!”  
  
“You can have the bag,” he gasped as he attempted to catch his breath. “I just want the water bottle. Do you know what a water bottle is?”  
  
“Duh, dummy!”  
  
The boy reached into the bag and pulled out the water bottle before tossing it in David’s direction. Too out of breath to inform the child that throwing things was very rude, David scooped up the water bottle from the grass and downed about half the water in one gulp. “Thank you,” he said once his voice returned.  
  
The boy didn’t respond. His attention was back on the little brown bag as he blindly rummaged around inside it for a moment. He pulled out one of the snacks that David had packed and his little face twisted into a look of disgust as he examined his choice and realized it was a bag of trail mix. “Yucky! Raisins!”  
  
“Now, now, raisins are very good for you,” David said, his worries in regards to the child accepting random food from a stranger momentarily forgotten. “They’re just like grapes, only dried—”  
  
“Raisins are yucky,” the boy said matter-of-factly, as he tossed the bag of trail mix to the grass near them and plunged his chubby, little hand back into the bag with determination. “Chocolate is the best, Dummy!”  
  
Well, that nickname was clearly going to be sticking around. Not that David minded; it was amusing hearing the boy call him what was likely the worst word he knew at his age.  
  
“Well, since you not finding any snacks you like, maybe you should go back to your parents now,” David said hopefully. “They’re probably looking for you—”  
  
“Nuh-uh.”  
  
David’s smile fell. “What do you mean?”  
  
The boy didn’t look up from the bag. “Mommy’s not here.”  
  
“Not here?” David asked. “You mean you’re here all by yourself?”  
  
“Ewwww!” the boy said with a look of disgust as he held up a tiny bag of carrots. “You got yucky snacks!”  
  
“Wait, let’s go back to your mother,” David said slowly. “She left you here at the park all by yourself?”  
  
Rather than respond to the question, the boy tossed the now-empty paper bag to the grass in angry motion. “I’m hungry and your snacks are all yucky!”  
  
David remained silent as he stared at the boy, a knot beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. His mother left him all by himself? He couldn’t have been more than three or four, there was no way he should be somewhere like a public park without an adult—  
  
The knot sank all the way to his feet as a troublesome thought pushed its way to the front of his mind, and David shook his head in an attempt to push it back. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to immediately jump to conclusions, especially when it came to a child he had only known for a few minutes.  For all David knew, the boy was just a little confused and his mother was actually worried sick about him running off by himself. Maybe she was searching around for him at that moment.  
  
“Well, maybe we could go look for your mommy anyway?” he suggested aloud. “Just in case? I could help you, if you want. And maybe she might have something for your to eat, something that you’ll _like_?”  
  
The boy’s face scrunched up into an expression of intense thought, his lips pressed together as if he were trying to solve a difficult math problem. David found himself smiling at such an adorable sight as he waited for the boy to answer.  
  
Finally, the boy pulled himself to his feet. “Okay. All your snacks are yucky anyway.”  
  
David smiled and rose to his feet as well. “Well, I think they’re delicious.”  
  
“You’re a dummy.”  
  
David couldn’t resist a chuckle as he gathered up the snacks and placed them back in the little brown bag. Once the bag was full and rolled up tightly, he offered his hand to the boy. “Can you tell me your name?”  
  
“You first!” the boy insisted, arms crossed stubbornly.  
  
David’s smile returned. “Fair enough. My name is David.”  
  
The boy’s thoughtful look returned. “Dummy’s better.”  
  
“Well, you can call me whatever you want,” David said. “But I’d like to at least know your name, too!”  
  
The boy looked down at his shoes for a moment, his arms still crossed over his chest. “...Max.”  
  
“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Max,” David said cheerfully, once again offering him his hand. “Now, let’s go find your mother.”  
  
Max hesitated again before he gently placed one hand in David’s. His little hand was so small compared to David’s, and David felt it instinctively clench into a fist for a moment before relaxing comfortably against his palm. As if he’d been expecting David to be a lot rougher with him.  
  
David frowned at the implications behind that action, and Max’s earlier response in regards to his mother drifted to the front of his mind again. He could feel another knot forming in the pit of his stomach, but an even bigger knot surrounded the first at the fact that he’d jumped to such negative thoughts at all.  
  
He barely knew this child. He had no idea what his home life was actually like, and any sort of behavior or reactions could simply be a result of his big personality. What good would it do to jump to the conclusion that he was being neglected or abused or...or something _worse_ without proper evidence? For all David knew, his mother could be a wonderful, kind person and he was just...just a _jerk_ for assuming she would treat her son just as badly as his own birth parents had treated him.  
  
Still…  
  
David glanced at Max out of the corner of his eye as they headed back towards the playground, a good place to begin their search for his mother. A search that, David desperately hoped, would be resolved quickly and put most of his worries to rest.

* * *

It wasn’t long before the rain finally started to fall, and David was forced to call off the search. Not that it had really mattered either way; no one he had asked had known Max or his mother, and the people he hadn’t questioned were already packing up their belongings and retreating to their cars before the weather could get any worse.  
  
Max had been patient when they first started their search, but his mood worsened with the rain’s arrival, and his complaints about being hungry became a lot more vocal.  
  
With a sigh, David ushered him back to the original tree they had stopped under earlier (thank goodness there wasn’t supposed to be any thunder and lightning during the storm) and racked his brain for a solution to their dilemma.  
  
Okay, so they hadn’t located his mother and the storm was picking up. And Max didn’t have a jacket—  
  
David paused his train of thought for a moment as he looked down at Max, who was shivering unhappily from the blustering wind that surrounded them. Max didn’t have a jacket… Why didn’t he have a jacket? Hadn’t his mother known about the approaching storm?  
  
Another worrying thought that David couldn’t (and didn’t want to) focus on at the moment, and he shook his head in the hopes it would clear from his mind while he returned to more important topics.  
  
“Dummy, I’m hungry!” Max wailed angrily as he stomped his tiny feet. “And it’s cold and wet!”  
  
Okay, so food was a necessity. And that was on top of the fact that David would have to take him somewhere for the night, at least until the storm died down and they could locate his mother.  
  
David looked towards the main street, his eyes scanning the nearby shops before they landed on the general store. David knew it would remain open despite the bad weather (not even a freak blizzard a few years back had been enough to close it for the evening; there was no way a simple rainstorm would be enough to do the job) and he would be able to buy the things he needed for Max there while they figured out what to do next.  
  
And maybe, David dared to hope, there was someone there who knew something about Max’s mother and would be able to help them locate her. And she could reunite with her son, whom she was most _certainly_ looking for at that very moment.  
  
... _Right?  
  
_ “Dummy!” Max said louder, and tugged on the bottom of his jacket. “Dummy! I’m hungry!”  
  
David knelt down in front of him, as he tried to figure out how to word his thoughts in a way that Max could understand. “Alright, Max,” he said softly. “I’m gonna help you find your mommy—”  
  
“I don’t wanna find Mommy!” Max said, crossing his arms. “I...I want Mcdonalds!”  
  
David frowned. Another comment about how disinterested the boy was about finding his mother? “Oh, surely you want to find your mommy, Max,” David said. “I’m sure she’s looking for you right now—”  
  
“Nuh-uh,” Max said, rubbing his arms. “She’s not! And...and I’m hungry and I wanna go to Mcdonalds!”  
  
“I don’t think Mcdonalds is open, but we can get you some food at the store across the street,” David pointed out. “They probably have a lot of yummy food there and we can stay dry while we figure out how to find your mommy. Even if you don’t want to find her, we should at least try to look for her, right?”  
  
Max shrugged a bit. “I don’t know.”  
  
“I’ll let you pick out a toy,” David said with a smile. “Would you like _that_?”  
  
Max’s eyes went wide. “I can get a toy?!”  
  
David had a feeling that such a promise would get the boy’s attention. “Absolutely! But you gotta come with me to the store, okay?”  
  
Max looked down at his shoes for a moment, his expression once again scrunched up and thoughtful. “Okay, but I don’t want any yucky foods! And...and I want a really COOL toy! Like...a laser gun!” He hugged himself as the wind continue to blow around them. “And it’s still cold!”  
  
David tapped his lip for a moment, and his eyes lit up. “Ooh, I have an idea!”  
  
He removed his backpack and let it drop to the ground beside him, then unzipped his jacket. Oblivious to the sudden chill that surrounded him once it was removed, he knelt down and wrapped it around Max’s small frame.  
  
“There we go,” he said as he zipped it up. “A temporary jacket until we can get you your own.”  
  
Max held his arms up inside the sleeves, his hands barely reaching the elbows and the bottom of the jacket touching the ground. Much like when he had first seen Max, David felt himself unable to breathe at such an adorable sight.  
  
“It’s too big!” Max pointed out, kicking one foot against the dragging hem as he stared down at it. “The bottom’s gonna get all wet!”  
  
“Well, it’s only until we get to the store,” David explained, and rolled up the sleeves on the jacket. “Maybe we’ll be able to get you your own jacket while we’re there.”  
  
“Can it be blue?” Max asked. “Blue is the best! My blankie’s blue and my closet is blue and—”  
  
“We’ll see what the store has to offer,” David said and offered Max his hand. “Come on, let’s hurry before it starts raining harder.”  
  
Max hesitated for a moment, like he had done the first time David had offered him his hand, before taking it again. Once again, David could feel his little hand ball up into a tense fist before relaxing a moment later, and he once again did his best to push those troubling thoughts to the back of his mind as they started to walk.  
  
Okay, so it was definitely concerning that Max had been by the park all by himself, jacketless and without _any_ desire to find his mother.  
  
But David just needed to remain calm and positive. Again, it wouldn’t do either him or Max any good to jump to conclusions based on a hunch. A hunch that...was reminding him of the time his own parents had abandoned him, but even so, it wasn’t as if every parent in the world was going to abandon their child in one of the cruelest ways imaginable.  
  
“Dummy, my shoes are getting wet!”  
  
Well, boots would absolutely be on their grocery list. And despite his concerns, at least David could take solace in the fact that no matter what happened that night, for the first time in a long while, he wouldn’t be spending his evening in an empty house on a lonely island.

* * *

“Now let’s see… what else do we need?” David asked as his eyes scanned the grocery shelves.  
  
“I want pudding!” Max said, arms crossed. “Chocolate pudding!”  
  
David smiled. “Okay, okay, I guess a pudding cup or two isn’t completely out of the question. But we have to get some healthy food too, okay?” He stopped for a moment to browse the labels before he pulled something off the shelf. “How about some banana chips?”  
  
Max’s face twisted up in disgust. “Yucky!”  
  
“Now, how do you know it’s yucky?” David asked, as he placed the little bag in his cart. “Have you ever tried them?”  
  
“No, but they’re yucky ‘cause I say so!”  
  
David smiled a bit as they continued on, his eyes still on the shelves. “Well, maybe you can try one or two and see if you like them. And if not, then maybe I’ll eat them instead.”  
  
Max pouted. “No, they’re for _me_!”  
  
David raised an eyebrow. “Oh? But I thought you didn’t like them?”  
  
“But they’re _mine_!” Max said, stomping his foot. “You can’t have them!”  
  
David chuckled a bit as they continued on down the aisle. “Let’s see...what else can we get?”  
  
“I want Pop-tarts!” Max said, as he reached for a box on the nearest shelf.  
  
“Now, Max, we’ve already got pudding in the cart,” David said. “Don’t you think we should try some healthier options—”  
  
“I want Pop-tarts!” Max repeated, louder this time.  
  
“Max, I said we can’t get them,” David told him as calmly as he could. “We can get something else, if you’d like—”  
  
“No!”  
  
Before David could react, Max snatched the box from the shelf and slammed it to the ground with as much force as he could muster, then reached for another box which quickly joined the first.  
  
David was frozen in shock at such a violent response to simply being told ‘no’, too stunned to stop Max from slamming a third box to the floor in a fit of rage.  
  
Okay, he needed to put a stop to this. David certainly didn’t want to raise his voice; Max was just a young child and probably didn’t know any better. And if he did know better...then that was all the more reason _not_ to yell at him and to simply try and offer a solution.  
  
Before Max could reach for another box, David knelt down and gently pressed a hand against it so Max couldn’t pick it up. “Max, you can’t throw the boxes around like that,” he said calmly. “It’s very rude, and I’m not going to buy them.”  
  
Max glared up at him, his little chubby hands balled into fists. “But I _want_ it!”  
  
“But that doesn’t mean we can get it,” David said. “Besides, if you want something, you need to ask politely for it. Do you know what the magic word is?”  
  
Max’s only response was to stick his tongue out at David, who continued to speak: “If you want something, you need to ask nicely, okay?” he told him. “You say: ‘May I have this _please_?’ And sometimes you _can’t_ always get what you want. Sometimes they’re just too expensive or unhealthy or there’s just another reason why you just can’t get it.”  
  
“That’s dumb,” Max said, with a halfhearted kick to one of the boxes on the floor. “You’re dumb.”  
  
“We can get other things you might like,” David said, as he picked up the boxes and placed them back on the shelf. “But we can’t get these, okay? Maybe we could get something else like them instead? Do you like granola bars?”  
  
Max’s grumpy expression melted away in an instant. “I want the peanut butter ones!” he said excitedly, and hopped up and down in place.  
  
David smiled and rose to his feet. “See, there we go!” he said cheerfully. “We can get those instead. But what do you need to say if you want something?”  
  
Max stopped jumping, his expression irritated once more. “...Gimme please,” he muttered in a halfhearted voice.  
  
David’s smile widened as he reached for a box. “Well, it’s a start. And—”  
  
Max made a grabby motion with his hands. “I wanna hold it!”  
  
“Now, Max, remember the magic word—”  
  
David’s words were cut short by the swift and painful feeling of Max’s foot against his shin and he let the box drop to the ground out of surprise and pain, which Max gleefully scooped up before he raced down the aisle with a laugh.  
  
“Max, no, come back!” David called, the slight aching in his leg forgotten as he hurried after him.  
  
Max reached the end of the aisle and disappeared out of sight as he rounded a corner. David followed after him with a quick pace, and immediately collided hard with another unfortunate person who happened to be stepping out of the other aisle.  
  
David groaned in pain, and gingerly pressed a hand to the spot on his forehead where it had hit the other person’s. “I’m so sorry,” he said through clenched teeth. “I was chasing after—”  
  
His words died in his throat as he got a good look at the teenager in front of him. He had a bit of a tired (probably stoned) look to him; his mulleted hairstyle was pulled back into a ponytail and his work uniform clearly having seen better days.  
  
“Damn, dude,” the teenager muttered, as he rubbed his own sore forehead. “You really need to watch where you’re—”  
  
“Kevin!”  
  
David’s eyes were wide with excitement, and he practically lept into the other boy’s arms as he wrapped him up in a tight hug. Kevin’s own eyes seemed to light up when he realized who was hugging him, and he wrapped his own arms around David’s small frame. “Holy shit, Sunshine, is it really you? Feels like I haven’t seen you in ages!”  
  
David beamed as he placed his hands on Kevin’s shoulders. “I know! It’s been forever!”  
  
“Yeah, it has!” Kevin said with a laugh. “I was _wondering_ if you were going to stop by here after Gwen did earlier.”  
  
“Oh, you saw Gwen?” David asked.  
  
“Said she had to pick up a few things for dinner or something before the hurricane picked up,” Kevin said. “Lucky her, getting to go home for the evening instead of being stuck at work. Because _apparently_ —” he said loudly, with a glare towards what appeared to be a door to his boss’s office near the back of the store. “—keeping a store open during said hurricane, _when no one will be in the fucking mood to go grocery shopping_ , is a smart business strategy!”  
  
“Now, Kevin,” David said scoldingly. “I wouldn’t exactly classify this storm as a ‘hurricane’. Those are very rare over lakes.”  
  
Kevin’s scowl curled into another smile as he gave David’s head a noogie. “Aww, now how am I supposed to stay mad about being stuck at work when you’re here being this adorable, Sunshine?” he said playfully.  
  
“Gosh, it’s been forever since anyone’s called me that,” David said with a laugh as he attempted to push Kevin off him. “Not since you were expelled last year.”  
  
“Good, I don’t want anyone stealing that,” Kevin said as he let go of him. “I coined that nickname, it’s my thing. But oh, _man_ , it has been _forever_ since we met up! I mean, I’d definitely love to hang out more with you, but—”  
  
“Busy with work?” David guessed. “I get it, Kev. Nothing wrong with working hard!”  
  
“Well, yeah, that,” Kevin said innocently. “And the fact that I’ve started selling this thing called ‘Butterfly Powder’ to people and it’s been keeping my schedule pretty packed. Speaking of which, did you want to buy some? It’s brand new on the market, _very_ addicting—”  
  
“Is it made from real butterflies?”  
  
Both Kevin and David turned to see Max peering out at them from the next aisle, the box of granola bars still clutched tightly in his chubby little hands. David sighed with relief at the sight of him. “There you are, Max,” he said warmly. “Would you like to come join us?”  
  
Max’s lip curled into a scowl as he retreated further back into the aisle. “No. He looks smelly.”  
  
“Max!” David exclaimed in shock. “That’s not very nice—”  
  
Kevin let out a hearty laugh behind him. “Do I now?” he asked with a playful shrug. “Well, I’ll bet you don’t smell any better than I do, pipsqueak.”  
  
With an offended pout, Max stepped out of the aisle and crossed his arms as best he could with the box still clutched in one hand. “No! You’re the smelly one!”  
  
“I don’t know,” Kevin said, with a wink to David. “I’ve heard kids are usually their smelliest around your age.”  
  
David did his best to repress a knowing smile as he looked back at Max. “Are you going to take that from him, Max?”  
  
“Nuh-uh!” Max stomped over to them. “ _You’re_ smellier! I said it first so I win!” he shouted, pointing up at Kevin with his free hand.  
  
Kevin placed his hands on his hips. “Well, shi—” He bit his lip. “Uh, fuc— _shoot_ , I can’t argue with that, can I, David?”  
  
“I appreciate the censoring,” David said. “And no, you can’t.”  
  
“Look, man, I know I’m not the best role model in the world,” Kevin said. “But even I know not to fucking swear in front of kids.”  
  
It was less than a second before his eyes widened with realization. “...Shit. _Wait_ , I mean—”  
  
“Well, I appreciate the attempt nonetheless, Kevin,” David said with a chuckle, before he knelt down next to Max. “And as for you, Max: you know it was very rude to kick me like you did, right?”  
  
Max stared at him for a moment, his signature pout unchanging, before his eyes dropped to the ground. “I don’t know.”  
  
“You don’t know?” David asked curiously. “Well, do _you_ think it was a nice thing to do to someone?”  
  
A shrug was Max’s response, his lower lip jutted out in a pout. “No.”  
  
“So why did you do it?” David asked.  
  
“...Cause I want peanut butter bars and you’re dumb and won’t let me have Pop-Tarts.”  
  
David bit his lip in an attempt to stifle his laughter at such a brutally-honest answer. While it was definitely hilarious, he didn’t want Max to think it was okay to talk like that. “Well, do you think that’s the way to get what you want?” David asked. “I already said yes to the granola bars, there was no need to kick me. And even if I had said no, kicking someone because they aren’t giving you what you want is very mean and rude.”  
  
Max simply clutched the box of granola bars closer to him and continued to stare at the floor.  
  
“Well, it’s over and done with,” David said. “But you can’t be doing that anymore, okay? And you should say sorry for doing it.”  
  
Max stared at the floor for a moment more. “...Sorry for kicking.”  
  
David smiled. “Well, I accept your apology, Max.”  
  
“But I wanna hold the box!” Max insisted, his grip on the little cardboard box as tight as it could get. “I wanna!”  
  
“What’s the magic word?” David asked.  
  
“...Please, I wanna,” Max said with a scowl.  
  
David give him a nod and rose to his feet again. “Sorry, Kev,” he said with a smile. “We might’ve had a bit of an incident. It’s why I ran into you in the first place.”  
  
“Hey, no worries,” Kevin said. “So, uh, what’s with the little gremlin anyway? Is he yours? I thought you were waiting until after college to adopt, or something.”  
  
“Oh no, it’s nothing like that!” David explained as he looked down at Max. “I found him at the park across the street and we decided to seek shelter here when the storm picked up.”  
  
“Dummy won’t let me get Pop-Tarts,” Max said. “He’s dumb.”  
  
Kevin let out a low whistle. “Smelly? Dumb? Dang, and I thought _I_ was a potty mouth.”  
  
David chuckled a bit as he patted Max’s head, a motion that caused Max’s pout to return. “Well, in any case, we’re just hear to get a few things for dinner and maybe figure out what to do about finding this little guy’s mother—”  
  
“I’m gonna get a toy!” Max said proudly. “A cool one!”  
  
“A cool one, huh?” Kevin braced a hand against one knee and flicked his thumb towards one of store aisles. “Well, you’ll wanna check aisle three for those.”  
  
Before David could stop him, Max shoved the box of granola bars into his hands and broke into a sprint towards where Kevin had directed him, his still-damp shoes squeaking loudly against the hard, linoleum floor.  
  
“Max, wait!” David called to him frantically. “You’re going to slip—”  
  
“Aww, let him go,” Kevin said. “The squirt’s excited and kids are weirdly durable. At least...my brother was at that age.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess…” David said, unable to completely mask the concern in his voice and on his face while he looked down at the box of granola bars he now held in his hand.  
  
“Uh-oh, I’m sensing some rain clouds overhead and I’m not talking about the ones outside,” Kevin said. “What’s the matter, Sunshine?”  
  
David’s eyes drifted towards the tall windows at the front of the store, which gave him a clear view of the pouring rain and the park that lay across the street. “Hey, Kev, can I ask you something?”  
  
“Depends on what it’s about,” Kevin said. “Also if it’s about me cursing in front of the kid, then look, I already said I was sorry—”  
  
“No, it’s not that,” David said. “But it is about Max.”  
  
“What do you mean?” Kevin asked.  
  
“How often do you look out at the park during your shift?” David asked quickly. “I mean, not that it’s of any concern or anything, but you know, I’m just curious.”  
  
Kevin looked towards the windows. “I mean, depends on how busy we are. And even if we’re not busy, I usually have to _pretend_ we’re busy so my boss doesn’t get on my case about ‘not working hard enough’.”  
  
“Have you ever seen Max out there by himself?” David asked. “Or...have you seen him with an adult? Possibly his mother?”  
  
“Again, I don’t really pay much attention to the park-goers,” Kevin said, tapping his lip thoughtfully. “But you know...now that I think about it, I think I _have_ seen the kid in here once or twice before. Usually with a tall, thin woman. Dyed-blonde hair, pale...Not to sound, like, insensitive or some shit like that, but if they’re related by blood, he _definitely_ gets all his looks from his dad.”  
  
“Do you know her name?” David asked hopefully.  
  
Kevin shook her head. “Nah, she never came through my register. Actually, I think she went out of her way to avoid me. She kinda reminds me of Danny’s mom. You know, the kind of woman who always looks like she has a thousand insults she’s ready to throw at you, even if she’s not saying a single word.” He scowled. “Though I guess in my case, she has _no_ problems throwing insults and a variety of other things at me for dating her precious baby boy.”  
  
“She _still_ treats you like that for dating Danny?” David asked, his expression sympathetic. “Oh, Kev, I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve that.”  
  
“Eh, I’m not scared of her,” Kevin said with a wink. “And the joke’s on her because I make out with him in her bed when she’s not home. Or we just head over to Penny’s place and make out there. But anyway, back to the kid’s mom...I’ve only seen her a few times in here, so the two of them might be new in town. Why do you want to know about her?”  
  
David looked back towards the toy aisle for a moment, then back to Kevin. “I’m just...trying to help Max locate her, that’s all,” he said, with a smile far too wide to be sincere. “I...I mean, no sense in letting a mother and son be separated for too long if you can help reunite them, right?”  
  
His cheery facade dropped along with his shoulders as he cast his gaze to the floor.  
  
Kevin’s expression melted into a look of realization. “Oh… _oh_ …”  
  
David fell silent, the only noise in the store was the faint sound of Max from the toy aisle (likely scattering any toys he deemed unworthy across the aisle) and raindrops hitting the roof of the building. David stuffed his hands in his pocket, his eyes still on the floor. “Sorry, I…I realize that’s a pretty depressing thing to bring up…” he said with a weak laugh.  
  
“It’s okay, pal,” Kevin assured him. “It’s not going to turn out like it did with _them_.”  
  
“I know,” David said slowly. “I know. But...I found Max all by himself at the park, with no jacket and no parent, and I’ve just...I’ve been getting this bad vibe that maybe something’s wrong with his home life. Which...I know is silly, given how I haven’t even known him for more than an hour, but...I just have this _feeling_. And yes, I realize such a feeling is probably tied to, uh...well, _you know_ , and I haven’t even known him for more than an hour, but...I just have this _feeling_ , you know? Is that weird?”  
  
“It’s not weird,” Kevin said. “Usually stuff like that is your gut instincts telling you what’s what. You should listen to that feeling.”  
  
David bit his lip. “You think so?”  
  
“I mean, if you feel that strongly about something, there has to be at least a little bit of truth to it, right?” Kevin said.  
  
“...I don’t know if that’s entirely accurate,” David said.  
  
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Kevin said with a shrug. “I don’t know, I smoked a bit before my shift, and the effects probably haven’t worn off yet so I’m feeling a little bit philosophical. But hey, if you’re really that worried about the kid, then why don’t you just take him to the police station? It’s only a block away, you could get there in no time if you walked.”  
  
“The police station!” David repeated enthusiastically. “Of course! That’s the most logical thing to do! Sal would be able to help me get to the bottom of all this, he’s the best police officer in town!”  
  
“I’m aware,” Kevin said with a faint hint of bitterness. “He’s busted me several times. Speaking of which, don’t tell him about the Butterfly Powder, please.”  
  
“I won’t mention the drugs,” David assured him. “But...I do wish you wouldn’t tell _me_ when you have them. You know I hate lying to people!”  
  
“I know, Sunshine,” Kevin said. “But you’re a real saint nonetheless.”  
  
“Dummy! Dummy, I found my toy!”  
  
David turned to see Max racing towards him from the direction of the toy aisle, a light-brown teddy bear with a beautiful, blue ribbon around its neck clutched tightly in his arms and a wide smile, wider than any David had seen from him all evening, on his face. “I want him! I want him!”  
  
“Nice choice, small fry,” Kevin said called to him. “We just got those in last week and they’ve been selling out pretty fast. Good thing you got one when you did.”  
  
David smiled as Max came to a stop in front of him, nearly crashing into his legs out of excitement. “Alright, Max, you can get him. We can just go put him in the cart—”  
  
“No, I wanna carry him!” Max insisted, his face pressed against the teddy bear’s soft fur. “I wanna!”  
  
David opened his mouth to remind Max of the word ‘please’ but quickly closed it again. Max was clearly overwhelmed with happiness over the teddy bear and David would spare him the manners lesson just this once. “Well, alright,” he said. “You may carry him while we go pick you out a jacket and boots.”  
  
“I’m gonna name him Mr. Honeynuts,” Max said proudly. “He’s got a blue ribbon! That means he’s the best!”  
  
“Well, I’m glad you were able to pick out a toy you liked, Max,” David said. “And I have great news! After we finish shopping, we’re going to walk to the police station and see if they can help us find your mommy!”  
  
Max’s wide smile fell immediately. “No, I don’t want to! It’s raining and Mr. Honeynuts is gonna get all wet! And...your jacket is too big!”  
  
“Well, we still have to go pick out one for you,” David said. “And maybe once we get to the police station, we can sit down and eat all the yummy food we’ve picked out here!”  
  
“If you need me to, I can tie the bear up in a plastic bag for you so it stays dry,” Kevin pointed out. “And also, we do sell umbrellas.”  
  
“Well, there we go!” David said happily before he looked down at Max again. “How about it, Max? Wanna go to the police station?”  
  
“No,” Max said flatly.  
  
David raised an eyebrow. “Once we get there, we’ll be able to eat all the yummy food we bought,” he pointed out, with a gesture to the cart. “Didn’t you want those granola bars? And your pudding?”  
  
Max’s face scrunched up thoughtfully. “Okay, but... _I_ get to carry Mr. Honeynuts, not you!”  
  
“I wouldn’t dream of letting anyone else do it but you,” David promised. “Now let’s go get the cart and finish our shopping.”  
  
“Can we get some of the butterfly stuff?” Max asked. “I wanna eat a butterfly!”  
  
David’s eyes went wide and Kevin slapped a hand over his mouth in an attempt to muffle his laughter. “Sorry, kiddo, the stuff’s not for little kids,” he managed to say after he collected himself. “Maybe come ask me again when you’re twenty-one.”  
  
“But what is it?!” Max asked. “Is it candy? Like a pixie stick?”  
  
“Yeah, _sure_ …a pixie stick,” Kevin said. “It’ll definitely mess you up if you snort it like one—”  
  
“ _Kevin._ ”  
  
“Right, sorry.”

* * *

“Looking good, kiddo!”  
  
Kevin shot Max a pair of supportive finger guns as he stomped around proudly in his brand new jacket and boots, both a matching shade of blue to Max’s liking. David smiled fondly as he stared down at him while Kevin rang up their purchases. “Having fun?”  
  
“Yeah!” Max said cheerfully. “I got new stuff! And it’s blue! Blue is the best!”  
  
“Do you need the price tags for his jacket and boots?” David asked Kevin, and held up the tags. “I went ahead and just pulled them off. I figured Max wouldn’t be too happy about me making him take off his new stuff for you to scan.”  
  
“Yeah, that’s fine,” Kevin said, as he took the tags and quickly swiped them across the scanner, along with the remaining items. “That’ll be 57.35.”  
  
David fished his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out a few bills, grateful that he had made the choice to wait on his actual grocery shopping until Sunday. He’d probably have to get creative with ramen recipes and canned-soup-and-sandwich combos until Mr. Campbell sent him more money, but he could live with that if it meant Max could get a nice rain outfit and a teddy bear he clearly loved with all his heart.  
  
After the purchase was completed, he tucked what he could into his backpack and transferred the remaining food to one bag before he turned to Max. “Ready to go, Max?”  
  
Max hopped over to him in an exaggerated fashion that resulted in a loud squeak from his boots with every step. “Uh-huh!”  
  
“Still got Mr. Honeynuts?”  
  
Max nodded and held up the double-bagged teddy bear (David had thanked Kevin several times for making sure Max’s beloved toy would stay nice and dry during their walk) he had tucked safely beneath his arm. “Here he is!”  
  
David smiled and looked back at Kevin. “Alright, then let’s head out. We’d better get a move on, before the storm gets worse.”  
  
“Good luck, Sunshine,” Kevin said. “Oh hey, before you two leave, I got something I want to say to the kid.”  
  
The two of them stopped and Max looked back at him. “What is it? Am I gonna get some of the butterfly candy? I wanna eat a butterfly!”  
  
Kevin snorted a bit. “Nope, sorry. But what I am going to tell you is this.” His voice softened a bit. “You listen to David, okay? I’ve known him for years, and he’s a very good dude. He’ll look out for you and keep you safe.”  
  
Max looked up at David curiously and David smiled fondly at him, before he offered his hand to Max. Max stared at him for a moment, before he tucked the bag containing Mr. Honeynuts until one arm and placed his free hand in David’s. David could still feel his hand tense up for a moment, but it seemed to relax a lot quicker than it had the first time.  
  
David felt his heart swell as he looked back at Kevin. “Bye, Kev! Hope you’re able to head home soon.”  
  
“You and me both, Sunshine,” Kevin said with a wave. “You two stay safe, alright?”  
  
After David waved in return, the two of them headed for the door and stepped outside. The rain hadn’t quite picked up speed yet and while David could feel wind nipping at his face and hands, he could tell the storm was still in its earliest stages. He opened up the umbrella he’d bought and held it over their heads as they walked. Max stayed close to him, one hand still tucked in David’s and the other holding onto Mr. Honeynuts, until his eyes landed on a rather large puddle in the middle of the sidewalk.  
  
His hand moved to David’s pant leg, which he tugged on excitedly as he pointed at the puddle with his other hand. “Dummy! Dummy! I wanna go jump in it!”  
  
David smiled and looked down at him. “Now, Max, you’ll get all wet.”  
  
“Nuh-uh! I got my new boots and jacket!” Max pointed out. “You said I’d stay dry with them!”  
  
David’s smile widened. “...I did say that, didn’t I? Well alright, but don’t go too far ahead, okay? And make sure your hood stays up! And...and hand me Mr. Honeynuts just so the bag doesn’t tear.”  
  
Max handed him the grocery-bag-wrapped teddy bear and dashed out from beneath the umbrella in an instant. He raced straight for the nearest puddle and jumped into it with an excited laugh. Water went flying everywhere while he stomped around with glee, clearly overjoyed to be able to do so without the fear of soaking his shoes.  
  
With a laugh, David continued to watch as the boy proceeded to take another huge leap from one puddle to another. “Having fun?”  
  
Another laugh was Max’s response as he proceeded to jump in any puddle he came across, until he stopped near the curb with his gaze towards a large puddle that had started to form in the middle of the street. “Dummy, look!” Max said, and pointed at the water. “I’m gonna jump in _that_!”  
  
David’s eyes went wide. “Max, wait—”  
  
His words were cut off as Max jumped off the curb and raced into the street with a laugh, paying no attention to David’s outcry as he continued to stomp around in the large puddle. “Dummy! Look at me!”  
  
Behind him a car whipped around the corner and onto the main street, the driver apparently set on speeding despite the rain.  
  
_“Max, get out of the road!”  
  
_ David could feel his heart pounding in his chest and his muscles humming with adrenaline as he raced up the sidewalk with an impossible speed, his eyes locked on the headlights as the car sped toward the spot where Max stood. Max froze mid-stomp as David raced towards him, his cheerful smile gone and his back still to the oncoming car.  
  
David let the umbrella drop to the ground as he rushed out into the street, desperate to beat the car to Max’s location. “ _Max, I said get out of the road!_ ”  
  
Max didn’t budge an inch, his eyes wide with fear like a literal deer in headlights as the car drew closer. The driver honked at Max as they got closer, but showed no signs of slowing down. With a speed so fast that he was sure his lungs were going to burst, David sprinted to the spot where Max stood and scooped him up in his arms, then dove to the opposite sidewalk with as the car whizzed past. Water sprayed up from the street onto David as the car continued on down the road, soaking him through his coat and jeans.  
  
David could feel his entire chest burning as he attempted to regain his breath and his heart slowed down to its normal rate. It was only until Max began to struggle in his grasp that he realized just how tightly he’d been holding onto him, and he let Max down onto the sidewalk again with a shaky laugh before he pulled himself to his feet. “Well, that was certainly...exciting,” he said weakly. “Wasn’t it, Max?”  
  
His smile fell when he realized Max had backed up towards the nearest building, his head low and his hands held close to his chest. David tried to approach him, but Max moved closer to the doors of the building, his gaze still down at the rain-drenched pavement.  
  
David could see Max’s small body trembling and realization hit as Max brought his little hands to his hidden face, likely wiping away tears David couldn’t see. Concern washed over David as he crouched down and reached out a hand to comfort him. “Max—”  
  
“NO!”  
  
Before David could react, Max swung his tiny fist and punched his arm as hard as he could. David let out a cry of pain as Max retreated into a corner of the shop’s entrance way, hands now over his face and his body curled up in a terrified little ball. “No...no…”  
  
The aching in David’s newly-bruised arm was forgotten almost instantly as worry overtook him. Had the near miss really scared Max that badly? “It’s okay, Max,” he cooed softly as he carefully approached Max and crouched down in front of him. “It’s alright. The car’s not going to hurt you, okay?”  
  
“No...no…” Max repeated, hands still over his face.  
  
David tried to reach out his hand again to comfort Max, but Max swung his little fist again before he could get near. “NO!”  
  
David withdrew his hand, the worry intensifying as Max covered his face again. Max wasn’t just rattled by the near miss with the car; he was downright _terrified_. “Max, it’s okay,” David said in a low voice. “I’m not going to hurt you…”  
  
“You yelled!”  
  
“I…”  
  
The knot in David’s stomach was back, and the concerning thoughts regarding Max’s mother began to hammer and pound away at the inside of his mind again. Max was afraid of being yelled at? Did...did his mother yell at him?  
  
“Max,” he said softly. “Does somebody yell at you when you misbehave?”  
  
Max let out an unhappy sob. “No...no…”  
  
David stared at him with a look of sympathy and heartbreak, his arms instinctively hugging the little bundle in his arms closer to his chest.  
  
The little bundle?  
  
Curiously, he looked down at the bundle and suddenly remembered that he’d been holding onto Mr. Honeynuts the entire time. Despite all the jousling around, the bag remained in tact and the teddy bear inside was likely still dry and safe.  
  
His mouth curling into a warm smile, he carefully held out the bag towards Max. “Max, would you like to hold Mr. Honeynuts? Would that make you feel better?”  
  
Max continued to tremble for a moment, but eventually lowered his hands from his face, now a mess of snot and tears. His watery eyes grew wide at the sight of the bag and he snatched it out of David’s hands and held it close, his face pressed fondly against the plastic.  
  
Despite the wet pavement, David sank to his knees completely and dared one last attempt to carefully reach out and brush the curls out of Max’s eyes. This time, Max didn’t retaliate and instead kept his arms wrapped around the teddy bear, his tears slowing to a stop as David continued to comfort him. “It’s okay, Max,” he said in a soothing tone. “I’m not going to hurt you, okay? And I’m not going to yell at you.”  
  
Max sniffed a bit, and reached up to wipe his face with his coat sleeve. “Y-You yelled.”  
  
“I know,” David said, keeping his tone calming and gentle. “But it wasn’t because I was mad, okay? There was a car coming, and I was worried it was going to hurt you if you didn’t get out of the road. I yelled because I was worried about you, not because I was mad at you. Do you understand?”  
  
Max shook his head. “Yelling’s scary.”  
  
David gave him a sad look. “It is scary,” he said. “And if you don’t want me to yell, then I’ll try not to. I’ll do what I can to solve a problem without yelling unless I absolutely have to, okay?”  
  
“Promise?” Max asked.  
  
“I promise,” David said.  
  
Max’s expression turned thoughtful, his lower lip stuck out in a sad pout. “...I’m cold. Can we go to the place now?”  
  
David smiled and rose to his feet. “Of course we can,” he said, with a look to the sky. “Seems like the rain might be picking up anyway, so we’d better hurry. Would you like me to carry you?”  
  
“No,” Max said. “You’re all wet.”  
  
It was then that David realized just how accurate Max’s statement was; he had gotten positively soaked from the car splashing water onto him and the rain pouring down on him without the umbrella to keep him dry had only soaked his clothes further.  
  
“Well, I guess I am,” David said with a laugh. “How perceptive of you to notice! We’d better go get the—”  
  
David’s gaze traveled across the street to where they had originally stood and where he had dropped the umbrella, only to notice that the wind had swept it halfway down the street in the opposite direction. It would take longer for them to retrieve it than it would for them to continue on without it.  
  
“Well, no matter,” David said cheerfully as he turned back to Max. “We’re only about a block away from the police station. We’ll just have to walk quickly. And maybe Sal will have some towels we can use to dry off.”  
  
“Can we eat the foods we got from the store?” Max asked. “I’m hungry.”  
  
“Well, we can’t eat dinner just yet,” David said, and fumbled with his backpack for a moment. “But if you’d like a granola bar for now—”  
  
“No,” Max said. “I want pudding.”  
  
“Well, we’ll have to wait until we get to the police station before we can open up the pudding,” David said. “If we open it up while we’re talking, the rain will just make it all watery.”  
  
“Ew,” Max said, making a face. “I want the ‘nola bar.”  
  
With a smile, David handed him the snack and started to walk while Max fumbled with the wrapper, the ugly concern that had reared up earlier dogging him all the while. He thought back to what Kevin had told him in the store. About trusting his instincts, and about the few instances he had seen Max and his mother in the store.  
  
Kevin had said she’d given off vibes similar to Daniel’s mother. And while David and Daniel weren’t exactly the best of friends nor was David fond of assuming the worst in anyone, he knew more than enough about the kind of person Daniel’s mother happened to be.  
  
Cold, judgmental, the kind of person who despised any sort of imperfections. The kind of woman with a vice-like grip, one who would probably be willing to also snap someone’s wrist or neck with said grip at the first necessary opportunity.  
  
The kind of woman that reminded David of his own mother and father.  
  
David felt his chest tighten at the thought, and he looked down at Max as they walked. Could Max’s mother really be as cruel as Daniel’s mother? As his own mother and father?  
  
“Dummy?”  
  
Max’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Yes, Max?”  
  
“...How come you bought me Mr. Honeynuts?” Max asked. “And my jacket? And boots? And food? And did all that other stuffs?”  
  
David smiled at him. “Well, I did all that because I wanted to help you, Max.”  
  
Max tilted his head. “But how come?”  
  
“Well, that’s what people do when they care about each other,” David explained. “They help them when they’re in trouble, give them food and shelter when they need it—”  
  
“And teddy bears?”  
  
David nodded. “Giving gifts is also a way to show someone you care about them. I like to think if more people were kind to one another, the world would be a much happier place.”  
  
“Oh…”  
  
Max fell silent again and David gave his head a gentle pat as they continued onwards, the desperate hope that Sal would be able to help them get to the bottom of things growing larger and larger with every step.

* * *

The police station was warm and inviting, and a wave of relief washed over David like a comforting waterfall as they stepped inside the building. He could already feel his jeans beginning to dry as they headed for the bullpen.  
  
“Davey! Good to see you again, son!”  
  
David smiled widely at the sight of a familiar police officer approaching them from one of the desks. “Hey, Sal!” he said with a smile. “It’s good to see you again, too!”  
  
“You here to donate to another fundraiser?” Sal asked, and came to a stop in front of them. “Or volunteer for another event?”  
  
“Not this time, Sal,” David said. “Though I wouldn’t say no to a schedule of upcoming events if you have one. You know it’d break my heart to miss out on a chance to help others!”  
  
“You’re a regular saint,” Sal said as his gaze travelled down to Max, who had hidden himself behind David’s legs. “Ah, and I see you’re not alone this evening. Care to introduce me to your new friend?”  
  
Max pouted and tucked himself further behind David’s legs. “This is Max,” David told Sal, reaching down to give Max’s head a fond pat. “He’s the reason I’m here. See, I was at the park doing my homework and he came up to my table and took my food. One thing led to another, and, well, I found out he was at the park all by himself. I looked for his mother, but she was nowhere in sight and the storm was about to hit, so—”  
  
“—so you decided to help him?” Sal guessed.  
  
David smiled meekly. “I couldn’t just leave him all by himself out there in the cold. We even stopped by the general store so I could pick him up a jacket and boots.”  
  
He felt Max tug on his jacket, and looked down to see the little boy silently hold up the little bagged teddy bear. “Right, we got Mr. Honeynuts, too,” David added. “Do you want to tell Sal about your teddy bear, Max?”  
  
Max shook his head, his lower lip out in a pout. The concern bubbled up again at Max’s unusual silence, but he ignored it and turned his attention back to Sal. “Well, in any case, we were hoping you could help us locate his mother.”  
  
Sal chuckled a bit. “Walking all the way across town in the middle of a storm just to help a lost child? With no umbrella?” he asked with a knowing shake of his head. “Only you, David…”  
  
David chuckled, his face red with embarrassment. “Well, we might’ve actually lost the umbrella by accident on the way here.”  
  
“No matter, we have plenty of towels,” Sal said with a gesture to follow him. “Follow me to my desk. I’ll get the questions started quickly so the two of you can go and dry off.”  
  
David nodded and hurried after him with Max still on his heels. He reached the desk and removed his backpack and raincoat—which clearly hadn’t done him much good in the end, and in the back of his mind, he hoped he wouldn’t get sick as a result—both of which he set down next to the chairs that were situated there, then he knelt down in front of Max and helped him remove his own jacket.  
  
Max held out Mr. Honeynuts in front of him after his jacket had been removed. “You gotta take off his bag, too!”  
  
“Oh, of course!” David said, and took the bag from him. After a moment of fumbling with the knot Kevin had tied in it, he untied it and pulled out the teddy bear, still completely dry and fluffy despite his rough journey.  
  
Max snatched Mr. Honeynuts out of David’s hands as soon as he was out of the bag and held him close, a small smile on his face as he nuzzled his cheek against the bear’s fur.  
  
With their jackets removed, David seated himself in one of the nearby chairs and Max extended his teddy-bear-less arm up in a grabbing motion. “Up! Up!”  
  
David’s eyes widened. “You...want to get up on my lap?”  
  
“Up!” Max repeated.  
  
“What’s the magic word, Max?” David asked.  
  
“...Please up.”  
  
His smile widening, David bent over to pick Max up and seated him on his legs. “There we go,” he said cheerfully. “Comfortable?”  
  
Max didn’t respond. Instead, he held his teddy bear closer and gently rested his head against David’s chest. David could feel his heart swelling as he carefully wrapped his arms around Max to keep him sturdy and comfortable. He had a feeling that Max was exhausted after everything that had happened to them and would probably be grateful for a nap soon.  
  
Sure enough, Max seemed to be nodding off to sleep against him; his eyes fluttering shut for a moment before he jerked his head up in an attempt to stay awake.  
  
“Is someone getting sleepy?” Sal asked from his desk, a smile on his face.  
  
“We’ve had a busy afternoon,” David explained. “And I don’t know if he’s had a nap.”  
  
“Not sleepy…” Max said with a halfhearted pout. “No nap…”  
  
“Sounds like the telltale sign that a nap’s needed,” Sal said with a wink to David. “If you’d like to set him down for one in the soft room while we talk—”  
  
“No,” Max said, as one hand gripped the front of David’s shirt. “I wanna stay with Dummy.”  
  
Once again, David could feel his heart overflowing with joy and fondness as he stared down at Max. “He can stay out here if he wants, Sal,” David explained. “Besides, I’d like to at least feed him dinner before he goes to sleep.”  
  
“Dinner!” Max said, and lifted his head. “You said when we got to the place we could have foods! I wanna have my pudding!”  
  
“Well, we still need to tell Sal what happened,” David explained to him. “So he can call your mother and let her know you’re safe.”  
  
Max looked from him to Sal. “You’re gonna call Mommy?”  
  
“Well, we’ll definitely try,” Sal said, and pointed to the ceiling. “With the weather how it is, though, we might have some trouble getting ahold of her.”  
  
“How are you gonna call Mommy?” Max asked. “You don’t got her numbers…”  
  
David gave him a confused look. “Her numbers?” he asked, before his eyes lit up. “...Oh, you mean her phone number? Well, do you know how a computer works, Max?”  
  
Max shook his head no.  
  
“Well, a computer allows you to do a lot of things,” Sal explained. “Like...go on the Internet or look up information. In a police station, they have a lot of information on a lot of people, and they look all that information up if they need it for something. Like to find someone or contact someone or to see if someone broke a law.”  
  
“What’s broked a law mean?” Max asked.  
  
“It means they did something bad and need to be punished,” David explained.  
  
Max’s face immediately melted into a look of terror, and he began to squirm wildly in David’s grasp. “No! No!”  
  
David nearly jumped at Max’s sudden reaction, and he tried to keep hold of him as he thrashed about. “Woah, Max, what’s wrong?”  
  
“No!” Max repeated loudly, which caused several of the officers in the building to look towards them. “No!”  
  
He was screaming ‘no’ again, like he had after the near miss with the car, and David felt his stomach trying to tie itself in a knot again as he attempted to calm Max down. “It’s okay, Max,” he said in a soothing tone, and gently rubbed his back with one hand. “It’s okay—”  
  
“NO!”  
  
Max pushed on his chest with as much force as his three-year-old body could muster, and David released him out of sheer surprise, allowing Max to drop to the floor and race towards the building entrance as fast as he could.  
  
“Max, no, come back!”  
  
David bolted from his seat and raced after him in a panic. And while Max managed to reach the station doors before David could catch up, the glass was much too thick and he struggled and pushed on them to no avail.  
  
He slid to the floor sobbing as David finally came to a stop in front of him and crouched down. “Max, what’s the matter?” he asked, his voice thick with concern as he attempted to pick him up. “It’s okay—”  
  
“NO!”  
  
Once again, Max pushed him away and rose to his feet before sprinting off in another direction and once again, David hurried after him. “Max, please slow down—”  
  
“Gotcha!”  
  
Another police officer managed to step in front of Max before he could run past and scooped him up carefully. “Oh, no you don’t, little guy,” he said, his voice low and calming. “You’re gonna get hurt running around like that.”  
  
“No!” Max screamed as he feebly attempted to hit the man’s hands to free himself. “No!”  
  
“It’s okay, Max,” David said as he approached them, with a grateful look to the officer. “Thank you so much for catching him for me, Terry.”  
  
“Any time, Davey,” Terry said and held out Max for David to take.  
  
David pulled the wriggling boy into a gentle embrace, despite his struggling and crying. “It’s okay, Max, it’s okay,” he repeated calmly. “There’s no need to worry.”  
  
Max had given up any attempt at hitting him and resorted to sobbing against his shoulder. David held him close and looked towards Sal again. “Sal, if it’s not too much trouble, I might take you up on that offer to put Max down for a nap.”  
  
“Of course,” Sal said. He gestured toward one of the hallways past the desk. “Follow me.”  
  
David hurried after him, despite Max’s unhappy sobs. “It’ll be okay, Max,” he kept repeating. “It’s okay.”  
  
He could feel his stomach twist every time he said those words. Would it be okay? Not only had Max been terrified of being yelled at, but now he was freaking out over nothing. Were his suspicions correct about Max’s home life?  And if they were...what on Earth could he do about it?  
  
He could always tell Sal about his concerns. Perhaps if Sal believed him, he could work on getting Max out of his mother’s home and—  
  
And…  
  
The weight in his stomach was back and he felt like he was being pulled down through the floor as he thought back to the conversation with Gwen earlier. How obsessed he’d been when it came to wanting his own child, how hard it had been to focus on anything else as a result…  
  
How worried he’d been about being as cruel as his own parent.  
  
What on Earth was he thinking, trying to separate a child from their parent simply because he _thought_ something might be wrong with their home lives? Who was he to judge that kind of thing? He had only met Max a few hours ago and he had never met his mother at all!  
  
Was he truly overthinking things when it came to Max’s mother? Was he really just hurting Max with his choices? Sure, the yelling thing after the near-miss with the car had been concerning, but maybe Max just had sensitive hearing and yelling spooked him.  
  
And sure, he had been stern with Max in the store, but... it wasn’t his business to tell him what foods he could and could not have. And come to think of it, how did he even know what foods were best for Max? How did he know what was best for Max in general? Heck, he could barely go five minutes without upsetting Max or making him cry. What kind of parent made their own kid cry like that?  
  
No…  
  
Max wasn’t his child.  
  
Tears began to bead at the corners of his eyes. Max wasn’t his child and he wasn’t a father. He wasn’t a parent. He was just some seventeen-year-old kid who happened to find another kid who needed help. It didn’t mean that he was suddenly an expert in parenting, or even a amateur in parenting.  
  
And it didn’t mean he knew how to take care of a kid properly.  
  
He blinked back his tears as he continued to follow Sal towards the soft room. Maybe Max was right; maybe he really _was_ a dummy.

* * *

Max was passed out by the time David got him situated on one of the soft room couches, the lights dimmed so sleep would come easier to him. David remained knelt down beside him, while a miserable look made itself at home on his face and his troublesome thoughts continued to pound away at the inside of his skull like a hammer against a nail.  
  
With a sigh, he properly seated himself on the floor beside the couch where Max slept and held his head in his hands. He had planned on talking to Sal about Max’s mother, and his concerns. But now he was starting to wonder if that was a good idea at all.  
  
For all he knew, he could be just spouting paranoid nonsense that could tear apart a perfectly happy family. Maybe Max’s mother had left him at the park because she couldn’t afford a sitter while she was working. Maybe Kevin was just...well, okay, he normally didn’t like to judge Kevin for his drug habits, but maybe his judgement had been clouded by just that: drugs.  
  
Maybe Max’s mother was a wonderful parent. And maybe David was just a stupid, paranoid kid who didn’t deserve to be one at all.  
  
The dim lights on the ceiling above flickered a bit, which caused David to look upwards for a moment. They continued to flicker on and off for a moment before returning to normal.  
  
“Oh, that damn storm…”  
  
David looked from the ceiling to the doorway where Sal now stood, his own gaze on the lights and a towel in his hand. “I swear, if it knocks out our power, I’m not going to be the one to go flip the breaker,” he muttered softly.  
  
“You think it might?” David asked.  
  
“Who can say for sure,” Sal said, as he approached the couch. “But if it does, don’t worry. We’ll get it back up and running before too long. It’ll take more than a storm to stop us at the Sleepy Peak Police Department from doing our duty!”  
  
“You’re the best, Sal,” David said fondly.  
  
Sal gave a nod towards Max. “How’s he holding up?”  
  
“Dead asleep,” David said, and reached over to give Max’s curls a gentle brush with his fingers. “Poor little guy’s probably worn out from all the walking we did.”  
  
“I figured as much,” Sal said. “If you’d like to come back to my desk and answer my questions while he gets some rest—”  
  
“Of course,” David said, and rose to his feet. “Though, I’m afraid I don’t really have much to say that I haven’t already.”  
  
“No matter,” Sal assured him as they headed out of the room. “I’d prefer you to repeat everything just so we can get a clear statement.” He offered the towel to David as they walked. “Also, here. You still look pretty soaked, so I figured you’d need this.”  
  
“Oh!” David said in surprise, and looked down at his clothing. “I...I completely forgot about that. I’ve just been so distracted with everything—”  
  
“That’s alright, son,” Sal said with a smile. “You’ve had a busy evening, it’s to be expected.”  
  
With a nod, David took the towel and dried himself off as he continued to follow Sal back towards the bullpen, while the sound of rain pounding on the rooftops echoed throughout the building. It was fairly quiet, with only the sounds of shuffling paper, the tapping of keys and the occasional ringing of a phone to break the silence.  
  
Not much to distract David from his overwhelming thoughts as he once again took a seat in front Sal’s desk, his head low as Sal seated himself in his own chair. “Alright, Davey,” he said, and turned to face his computer. “Let’s start with where and when you first found Max.”  
  
David nodded and situated the towel on the armrest of the chair. “As I said, it was at the park across the street from the general store. I was packing up to go home before the storm hit, and Max came up to my table and stole my snacks.”  
  
Sal’s mouth twitched amusedly as he typed David’s word. “And after that?”  
  
“I chased after him in order to get them back,” David explained. “Because, well, I didn’t want him to eat something he might be allergic to. And there’s the issue of stranger danger—”  
  
Sal nodded. “Smart thinking. Go on.”  
  
“In any case, I caught up to him and offered to help him find his mother,” David continued. “So we looked around for a bit, but then the storm started to pick up and we still hadn’t found her. So I decided to get him some dinner and a nice rain jacket and boots from the general store, and while while we there—” He paused, not wanting to get Kevin into trouble. “—while we were there, one of the employees suggested I come here to see if you could help my locate Max’s mother.”  
  
Sal continued to type in silence. “And you said you looked around for his mother at the park?”  
  
“Yes, sir.”  
  
“Did Max tell you his mother’s name, or his last name?” Sal asked.  
  
David shook his head. “No, he...he didn’t tell me much of anything about her. Though…”  
  
David bit his lip as he thought back to what Kevin had told him in the store. About Max’s mother coming off as cruel and judgmental, about him trusting his instincts…  
  
He let his gaze fall to his hands, which had tightened into anxious fists. He wanted to tell Sal his concerns so badly, but he kept his mouth firmly shut. Once again, there was no proof aside from his instincts and Kevin’s words, many of which David had doubts about trusting. Not that he didn’t trust _Kevin_ ; it was more his own paranoid thoughts that he doubted.  
  
“David?”  
  
David looked up from his hands. “Yes?”  
  
“You said ‘though’,” Sal pointed out. “As if you had something else to add.”  
  
David paused for a moment. “I...I was a little worried about the fact that Max didn’t have a jacket right before a storm,” he said. “Doesn’t that seem a little weird to you?”  
  
“You’d be amazed at how many articles of clothing my kids have misplaced over the years,” Sal said. “Why, just a month ago, my youngest somehow left both a sock _and_ a shoe at his friend’s house. And for completely different feet!”  
  
David bit his lip. “Y...Yeah, I guess he could have just misplaced it or something… But what about the tantrum he had earlier?”  
  
“It’s like you said,” Sal pointed out. “He was probably just exhausted from a busy day.”  
  
“Oh...right,” David said. “Of course.”  
  
“You know, it’s very sweet of you to spend all this time and energy helping that little boy,” Sal said. “You’re doing a really good job with him, Davey.”  
  
“I am?” David asked with genuine surprise.  
  
“Sure, you are!” Sal said enthusiastically. “You went out of your way to buy him dinner, keep him safe from the storm, walked all the way here with him in the pouring rain...I know actual parents who aren’t that good with their kids. Why I bet the girls are just lining up to date someone who will take care of a kid like that!”  
  
David’s eyes widened suddenly. “Oh no…”  
  
“What?” Sal asked. “Girls not your thing? That’s alright—”  
  
“No, it’s not that!” David said, and lept out of the chair in a panic. “Well, I mean...I don’t really mind either way, but it’s not what I meant! Can I use the public phone?”  
  
“Oh!” Sal said with a gesture to the hallway. “Sure, go right ahead! You know where the phone is, we haven’t moved it since…”  
  
Sal’s voiced trailed off and David nodded knowingly. “Right…”  
  
“Oh, uh, speaking of which,” Sal said. “Are you...holding up okay with all of this, David? The whole…’missing parents’ thing. It’s not...bringing up any bad memories for you, is it?”  
  
David’s gaze drifted to the floor. “Oh, I...You mean…”  
  
“I can understand if this whole situation is...troubling for you,” Sal said, and gave him a sympathetic look. “And I understand if what happened with your folks makes this all very difficult for you to handle. Do you need to talk about anything regarding that?”  
  
David looked down at his hands. “It...is a bit hard for me…” he admitted, before looking up again. “But...I’ll be okay. It’s nothing I can’t handle and my only concern is helping Max.”  
  
Sal eyed him for a moment more, before giving him a final nod. “Very well. But if you change your mind, you know where to find me. Also let me know when the little tyke wakes up, so I can get his fingerprints. Maybe then the system can give us his information and we can contact his mother that way instead of making him sit still and answer questions.”  
  
David nodded and hurried towards the hall and, after a quick glance into the soft room to make sure Max was still fast asleep, he continued on towards the public phone at the end while a wave of painful recollection rushed over him.  
  
He’d walked down the same hallway about three years ago to try and call his parents, on the exact same phone that still hung on the wall next to the door to the evidence room, only to be met with an endless dial tone and a lonely night in the police station’s soft room. The same soft room where Max currently slept.  
  
David felt a lump form in his throat as he picked up the phone’s headpiece and held it to his ear while he dialed Gwen’s number. He’d called her three years ago as well, and had spent a good amount of time on the phone with her as he tried and failed to hold back his tears of heartbreak as he told her what had happened to him.  
  
He took a deep, shuddering breath as he pressed the last number and the dial tone began. There was no need to be thinking about that night. There was no need to be getting so worked up. Max was not going to go through the same thing he did. He was just paranoid, and it would only be a matter of time before Sal contacted Max’s mother and she came to pick up her son and take him home.  
  
Things would be okay.  
  
_...Right?  
  
_ “Hello?”  
  
David breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of Gwen’s voice. “Hey, it’s me…It’s David.”  
  
“David Greenwood, you absolute son-of-a-bitch!” Gwen said angrily. “You said you’d call once you got home! I’ve been on the verge of a panic attack for over an hour now thinking that you were at the bottom of the lake or something—”  
  
David hung his head. “I’m sorry, Gwen,” he said, his voice low. “Something came up and I wasn’t able to make it home before the weather got bad.”  
  
There was a pause on the other end. “...Oh, God, what happened? Are you okay? Fuck, I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that, I’m sorry, I was just _really_ worried...”  
  
“It’s okay, Gwen,” David assured her. “I’m at the police station right now, but I’m alright.”  
  
“... _Why_ are you at the police station?” Gwen asked. “Also...wait, if you’re fine, then why weren’t you answering your phone?”  
  
“My phone—”  
  
David’s voice trailed off as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. The screen was completely cracked and the case was still damp.  
  
“Ohhh,” he said thoughtfully into the wall phone. “The screen must’ve cracked when I dove out of the way of that car. And the phone must’ve gotten soaked when it splashed me and Max.”  
  
There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment, before Gwen let out a long sigh. “Okay, where do I start? Let’s go with ‘Who the fuck is Max?’ and end with ‘Why the fuck were you almost run over by a car?’”  
  
“It’s been a wild evening, Gwen,” David said, his entire face red with embarrassment. “And I am sorry for not contacting you right away. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to sit down and call you since you left the park.”  
  
Gwen sighed heavily. “Alright, just...tell me what happened. Because I’m less upset about you not calling, and I just...want to know what’s going on. Also...you just now checked your phone, instead of _calling_ me from it? David, what the fuck? How do you just _forget_ that you have a cell phone?!”  
  
David smiled a bit. “Okay, so after you left, this little boy named Max came up to my table—”  
  
“Okay, everything’s starting to make sense now,” Gwen said with another sigh. “David, look, I know we were talking about you being a parent before I left, but _please tell me_ you didn’t go out and steal someone’s kid.”  
  
“Oh, gosh, of course not!” David said quickly. “After you left, he came up to my table and tried to steal my snacks. And you know me, I’m happy to share, but I at least wanted to make sure it was okay with his parents first, you know?”  
  
“Good call,” Gwen said. “You don’t want to come across as a creep or something.”  
  
“That’s what I told Sal!” David said. “In any case, I offered to help him find his mother. So we looked around for a bit, but then the storm started to pick up and we still hadn’t found her. So I decided to get him some dinner and a rain jacket and boots from the general store and I met up with Kevin there, who suggested that I bring him to the police station—”  
  
“Oh, you found Kev?” Gwen asked. “Did you know he was working at the general store now?”  
  
“Had no idea,” David said. “It was a wonderful surprise! But anyway, back to Max. I bought him food and a jacket and boots, and we headed here. That was when I nearly got hit by a car. He had raced out into the street to jump in puddles and…”  
  
David’s voice trailed off as he thought back to how Max had acted after the car incident. How scared he’d been of David yelling at him, how violent he’d gotten when David attempted to comfort him…  
  
He swallowed any concerns he wanted to voice to Gwen and continued speaking: “...and, well, you can guess what happened next. Boy, I had to dive pretty quickly to get out of the way of the car—”  
  
“What’s wrong?”  
  
David froze, his breath momentarily caught in his throat. “What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong!”  
  
“You paused for a moment while you were talking,” Gwen pointed out. “Also you haven’t started going on and on about how adorable the kid is like you normally would.”  
  
“I haven’t?” David asked, in the hopes to dodge the subject. “Well, he’s the most adorable little three-year-old with—”  
  
“David, please don’t change the subject,” Gwen said, her tone firm. “You’re stressing about this, aren’t you? About the kid’s mom leaving him at the park by himself?”  
  
“Stressing?” David asked in what he hoped came off as an innocent tone. “Why would I be stressing?”  
  
“Because it’s reminding you of…” Gwen paused for a moment. “...you know.”  
  
David sighed in defeat, his shoulders drooping in tandem. “Of course I’m stressing, Gwen,” he admitted. “I’ve been stressing since I found him. I mean...I’m sure it’s nothing, and maybe...maybe I’m just overreacting because of what happened to me, but...I don’t know, something feels wrong about this whole situation, you know?”  
  
He began to pace back and forth with the phone still against his ear, his free hand clutching at the front of his jacket all the while and his shoulders growing tense. “And I keep trying to tell myself that I probably am overthinking things. Maybe...maybe I’m still hung up over that conversation we had earlier and still thinking about being a parent. But...Gwen, he didn’t even have a jacket on right before a storm was supposed to hit the town! And… and he didn’t even seem all that upset by the fact he had been left all by himself. He was more fussy over the fact that he was hungry than he was over his missing mother!”  
  
He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, then began to pace again. “And then Kevin told me that he’s seen Max and his mother in the store before, and she reminded him of _Daniel’s_ mother—”  
  
“Kevin said that?”  
  
“Yeah,” David said. “And the first few times I held Max’s hand—because you know, I didn’t want him wandering off—his hand would always like...tense up at first, like he expects me to be a lot rougher with him. And he’s so prone to anger, which isn’t a bad thing because people get angry sometimes, but...it’s so unusually violent for a three-year-old! As if he just doesn’t know how to express his anger in any other way besides hitting and screaming at the other person until he gets what he wants. Which, again, maybe he doesn’t because he’s three or maybe that’s just how he is and that’s perfectly okay, but...who taught him that hitting people like that was okay in the first place?”  
  
He stopped in place, his shoulders tense and his arms held close. “And then there was the way he acted after we nearly got hit by the car…”  
  
“How did he act?”  
  
“Well, while I was racing out into the road to get to him before the car did,” David continued, “I yelled for him to get out of the road. And...God, Gwen, the look on his face when I yelled at him, it was just…”  
  
His grip on his jacket tightened. “He was terrified. And once we were across the street and out of harm’s way, he had backed up against the nearest building in a fit, and tried to hit me if I got too close to him. He was more scared from me yelling at him than being run over by a car.”  
  
“...Are you implying—”  
  
“I don’t _know,_ ” David said, his voice cracking on the final word. “It’s why I’m bringing it up; _I don’t know_. I mean, there’s all these signs, but...what if I’m wrong and it turns out his mother’s actually a wonderful woman who just...had to leave her son at the park by himself for some reason?”  
  
Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. “And I’m worried that maybe I’m seeing all these signs is because of what we talked about at the park. You know...about me wanting to be a dad and me being worried about being like my parents? What if...what if I’m just... _wanting_ to see problems that aren’t really there? What if I’m actually _hurting_ Max more than I’m helping him?”  
  
David could feel his heart pounding wildly as he fell silent and waited for her response. But there was no noise on the other end, aside from the faint sound of Gwen’s breathing and David hung his head in embarrassment. “I...I’m sorry,” he said. “I know that’s a lot to take in, and I shouldn’t just unload it all on you, especially after you were already so worried—”  
  
“Do you want me to come down there and join you?”  
  
David fell silent at her question, mouth slightly agape for a moment before he spoke again: “Oh, no, Gwen, I couldn’t ask you to do that! Not with the weather how it is! I...I’m fine, I promise.”  
  
“Are you sure?” Gwen asked. “I can handle a little rain, and you sound like you could really use someone there with you right now.”  
  
David smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Gwen. But I think I’ll be okay.”  
  
“Are you sure? I can be there in, like, five minutes.”  
  
“I...I’m sure,” David said. “I guess...I just want to know if I’m overreacting to all this? And...if I am, please just...tell me so I know I am and I can work on not doing that.”  
  
There was more silence on the other end for a moment before Gwen spoke again: “Okay, honestly, I’m not down there and I haven’t really seen anything that’s been happening with the kid,” she admitted, “so I can’t really give you the best advice. But honestly? From what you told me, it definitely sounds like something bad’s going on with the kid’s home life.”  
  
“You really think so?” David asked.  
  
“Like I said, I can’t say for sure,” Gwen said. “But the screaming and hitting? And being scared of yelling? Those are some major red flags, babe.”  
  
“You really think so?” David asked. “I was just worried that I was seeing problems that don’t exist because I _wanted_ them to exist…”  
  
“Okay, I’m gonna stop you right there,” Gwen said, “and tell you that you’re absolutely not seeing bad things just because you _want_ to. You hate seeing the bad in anyone, so if it’s hard for you to avoid seeing the bad in something, it’s probably for a good reason.”  
  
“Yeah, but...”  
  
“But what?”  
  
David shuffled his feet. “If I’m worrying for a good reason, then...does that mean Max really does have a bad home life? Should I tell Sal and have him look into it?”  
  
“I can’t say for sure,” Gwen said. “It might not be smart to immediately go to Sal about something that might not be an issue at all, and with no proof to back up your claims. Just...keep an eye on Max for anything else that might set off those ‘something’s wrong here’ warning bells in your head. If it gets too overwhelming, _then_ go to Sal about it.”  
  
David nodded, despite knowing Gwen couldn’t see it. “That’s a good idea. Thanks, Gwen.”  
  
“But just keep in mind: the kid’s a toddler and sometimes toddlers do just act like _that_ ,” Gwen pointed out. “It has nothing to do with their parents, sometimes it’s just how they are. Remember when Nadia was three and how much of a little shit she was?”  
  
David chuckled. “Hey, come on, she was a sweetheart—”  
  
“She’d run off from my mother, drew on the walls and tattled on herself because she thought it was funny, and then tried to get in the pantry and eat all her little cheese-and-cracker snacks even though she knew that she was only allowed one at snack time,” Gwen pointed out. “Toddlers are little shits, and sometimes it’s just because they find it funny, not because they’re being mistreated or anything. I mean, you know my mom would never do that to her kids, right?”  
  
“Yeah, I do…” David said as he calmed a bit. “Maybe you’re right…”  
  
“...Okay, now go ahead.”  
  
“Go ahead with what?” David asked.  
  
“Go ahead and gush about the kid,” Gwen said. “I know you want to.”  
  
“Okay!” David said with sudden giddiness. “He’s three years old, and he has the _fluffiest_ black hair and the prettiest green eyes, and the chubbiest little baby face, and he has the most adorable little expression he makes when he’s thinking really hard about something—”  
  
“Did you buy him anything before taking him to the police station? Other than food and raingear?” Gwen asked. “Because I refuse to believe you didn’t spoil him.”  
  
“He really wanted a teddy bear,” David said. “He named it Mr. Honeynuts and—”  
  
“DUMMY?!”  
  
David nearly dropped the phone in surprise as a loud, tearful cry echoed through the hall, which was immediately followed by the sight of Max racing out of the soft room as fast as his little legs could carry him, Mr. Honeynuts hugged close to his chest and his face stained with fresh tears. “Where’s Dummy?!” he bawled loudly, as more tears poured down his face. “Where’s Dummy?!”  
  
“Uh-oh,” David said into the phone. “Hold on just a second, Gwen. I’ll be right back.”  
  
“Wait, David—”  
  
Before Gwen could continue, David set the phone down on its stand and hurried down the hall towards Max, who finally turned to look at him. His tearful and heartbroken expression melted into a look of anger as David came to a stop in front of him. “It’s okay, Max, I’m here—”  
  
“You leaved!” Max said furiously, and pushed David’s legs weakly while tears continued to roll down his chubby cheeks. “You leaved and...and I’m hungry and I want my pudding!”  
  
The worry from hearing Max’s outcry was replaced with slight amusement as he knelt down to him. “I’m sorry for scaring you, Max,” he said with a gentle smile. “Did you have a good nap?”  
  
“Naps are for babies,” Max said, his lower lip out in a pout. “I want pudding!”  
  
David chuckled a bit as he patted his hair. “Now, Max, do you remember the magic word?”  
  
“...Please, I want pudding,” Max muttered softly.  
  
David nodded and offered his hand to Max. “Alright, we can have our dinner soon,” he said. “However, I am in the middle of a phone call right now, and I need to wrap it up first. Do you know what a telephone is, Max?”  
  
Max shook his head as he reached for David’s hand, still keeping Mr. Honeynuts close to his chest as they headed back towards the public phone. “Well, a telephone lets you talk to people who are very far away! Or sometimes they’re not far away, but they’re not close enough to just talk to like we’re doing now.”  
  
“How’s it do that?” Max asked, as they came to a stop.  
  
“Let me show you!” David picked the phone up and pressed it to his ear again. “Hey, Gwen. I’m back, and I have someone here with me.”  
  
“Is it someone who’s three years old and very grumpy?” Gwen asked knowingly.  
  
“It might be,” David said, his smile widening. “And I think he wants to talk to you.”  
  
“Well, then you’d better let him talk to me, huh?”  
  
David could tell by her tone that she was holding back a laugh and he couldn’t help but smile as he handed the phone to Max. “Hold it to your ear and say hello!”  
  
Max obeyed, fumbling as he attempted to hold the bulky earpiece with both hands and still keep a grasp on Mr. Honeynuts at the same time. “Hello?” he said curiously into the mouthpiece.  
  
“Hello, Max,” Gwen said. “David’s told me all about your evening. Are you having fun with him?”  
  
Max’s mouth lowered into a frown. “You gotta stop talking to Dummy,” he said matter-of-factly, “‘Cause he was gone when I...when I waked up from my nap, and also ‘cause I wanna eat my pudding now!”  
  
Before David could protest, he swung the phone as hard as he could towards the nearby wall before he hurried back towards the soft room. The phone bounced against the wall and swung back, its cord keeping it from hitting the ground, and David scrambled wildly to grab it.  
  
The sound of Gwen cackling poured from the earpiece while Max continued to amble down the hall, gently pressing a hand to the doors and listing off the colors as he walked; “Green door. Green door. Blue door! Blue is the best one ‘cause it’s blue!”  
  
David smiled a bit before turning his attention back to the phone; he could still hear Gwen cackling even before he put it back to his ear. “Sorry, Gwen, I didn’t realize he’d do that...”  
  
“Are you kidding? The kid’s a riot,” Gwen said as she collected herself. “I can see why you like him so much. Also what was that he called you? Dummy?”  
  
David’s face flushed. “A nickname. Isn’t it cute?”  
  
“Well, you heard the kid, Dummy,” Gwen said. “You’d better go.”  
  
“Right,” David said with a small chuckle. “And again...I’m sorry for forgetting to call and then just...unloading all of my emotions on you—”  
  
“Babe, if I had a dollar for the number of times you’ve calmed me down during an emotional breakdown, I’d be rich,” Gwen said. “You’re fine. Just take care of that kid, and call me if you start freaking out again. Also...to make up scaring me half to death, you can just buy me that copy of _Colorful Space Marines: A Tale of Literally-Star-Crossed-Lovers_ I was eyeing last week and we’ll call it even.”  
  
David smiled. “I guess that sounds fair.”  
  
“And one last thing, David?”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“...I’m sure you’re doing a fine job taking care of the kid,” Gwen said. “And I’m sure that no matter what happens, he’s probably really happy that you’re there with him.”  
  
“You really think so?” David asked.  
  
“I know so,” Gwen said. “Because he’s with _you_ , and you’re a goddamn ray of sunshine in human form who does everything he can to make sure everyone he meets is happy. Just trust your instincts, and everything will work out.”  
  
_Trust your instincts…  
  
_ Just like Kevin had told him back at the general store.  
  
David bit his lip as he looked back down the hall towards the soft room. His instincts were definitely telling him something, but even now, he wasn’t sure if he could believe them. He wasn’t sure he _wanted_ to believe them.  
  
Because if he believed his instincts, then...where would that leave Max? What would happen when he voiced his concerns to Sal? Would Max be taken out of his mother’s care and sent to a foster home?  
  
David felt that knot in his stomach return at the thought. Would his foster family understand him? Would they help him when he got upset and resorted to hitting and crying? Or would they grow frustrated and give him to another family?  
  
“David? David, you didn’t hang up the phone…”  
  
“Huh?” David shook his head. “Sorry, Gwen…”  
  
“Remember, call me if you need someone to talk to,” Gwen said. “Or if you just miss the sound of my voice.”  
  
A light blush spread across David’s cheeks. “Thanks, I will.”

* * *

“I want my pudding!”  
  
“Max, you need to eat your dinner first before you get your pudding,” David said, and gently placed a bag of banana chips next to the little sandwich he had prepared for Max. “And besides, banana chips are yummy! Don’t you want to try a few of them first?”  
  
“No!” Max said stubbornly, arms folded squarely across his chest. “I want pudding!”  
  
David tapped his lip thoughtfully for a moment, before he got an idea. He tore open the little bag of banana chips and poured a few into his hand. “Well, I guess if you don’t want them—”  
  
“No, they’re mine!”  
  
Max was in David’s lap in an instant, and swiped the little baggy out of his hand before scrambling back over to his spot on the floor and shoving as many banana chips into his mouth as he could fit.  
  
“Woah, woah, easy, Max, don’t choke on them,” David said quickly, as he moved closer to Max. “I won’t take them if you really want them that badly, but you have to take smaller bites, okay?”  
  
Max muttered something incoherent, his mouth too full for him to speak clearly, before he chewed and swallowed. He was silent for a moment, his face scrunched up thoughtfully, before he looked up at David. “...Nanas aren’t yucky.”  
  
“So you like them?” David asked with a wide smile. “Oh, I’m glad! They’re very good for you—”  
  
“I want pudding now!” Max said. “I ate my ‘nanas!”  
  
“You still have your sandwich,” David pointed out. “But I’ll tell you what: if you eat half of it, you can have your pudding early, okay?”  
  
Max continued to stare up at him, his lower lip out in a pout, before he looked down at his sandwich. Still pouting, he picked up one of the triangles that David had cut it into and cautiously bit into one of the corners, before he quickly shoved as much of the sandwich as he could into his mouth.  
  
“Max, no, smaller bites!” David said, and handed him a juice box. “Here, drink this while you eat.”  
  
Max took a sip of the juice and once again swallowed the food in his mouth, before taking another bit of the remaining sandwich half. David watched him eat with a fond expression. “You like it, Max?”  
  
A grunt of semi-approval was Max’s response as he finished off the sandwich half before reaching for David’s backpack. “Pudding! Pudding!”  
  
“Okay, okay,” David said amusedly as he fetched the pudding cups from his bag. “I think you’ve earned it.”  
  
“Yay! Gimme pudding!” Max said, as he made a grabby motion with his hands.  
  
“Magic word, Max,” David said.  
  
“GIMME PUDDING!”  
  
David bit back a laugh. Well, one missing ‘please’ wasn’t the end of the world and Max seemed to be in much better spirits than he had been before his nap. With a smile, he pulled back the lid and handed the little cup to Max along with a plastic spoon. “Okay, now, just be careful and don’t make a mess—”  
  
His voice trailed off when he realized that all of Max’s attention was now on the pudding cup, the contents of which he wolfed down so quickly that if David hadn’t known any better, he would’ve guessed that it had been Max’s first meal in a week.  
  
David felt his smile widen as he reached for his own pudding cup. Max looked up from his for a moment, his mouth curled into a frown. “Hey, how come you get a pudding if you didn’t eat a sandwich?”  
  
David chuckled. “Oh, I guess you’re right. That’s not very fair, is it?”  
  
“You gotta eat dinner first!” Max insisted. “Before pudding.”  
  
“Okay, you’re right,” David said as he retrieved more food from his bag. “You finish up yours while I eat. And then once we’re done eating, we can—”  
  
“I wanna play!”  
  
Max was already on his feet and hurrying towards the soft room’s toybox, Mr. Honeynuts in one hand and his empty pudding cup forgotten.  
  
“Wait, Max,” David said. “After I’m done eating, we need to go talk to Sal about your mommy—”  
  
“No!” Max said as he fumbled around in the toybox. “We’re gonna play superheroes!”  
  
David looked towards the door again and bit his lip. On the one hand, Sal had told them to go talk to him once Max woke up. On the other hand, Max was in a much better mood than he had been before his nap, and David certainly didn’t want to upset him again.  
  
And on the other, _other_ hand… David’s thoughts were a whirlpool inside his head as he attempted to figure out what to do. Should he listen to Gwen, Kevin, and his own thoughts, and go talk to Sal about his concerns? What would happen if he did? Would everything turn out okay for Max? Would he just be interfering with things that weren’t his business?  
  
A little more time to think things over might be just what he needed right now.  
  
“Dummy! I wanna play superheroes!” The feeling of Max tugging on his hand snapped David out of his thoughts and he realized that Max was now wearing a little toy cape he had fished out of the toybox and his bright green eyes were wide and pleading. “Please, I wanna!”  
  
David looked towards the door again. Well, perhaps a few minutes of playing wouldn’t hurt. And maybe it would give him a little extra time to make up his mind before they went to talk to Sal. “Well… I guess we can play for a little bit…” he said. “But after that, we do have to go talk to Sal, okay?”  
  
Max’s mouth curled into a wide smile as he hopped up and down excitedly. “I’m gonna be the hero and you’re the dumb bad guy.”  
  
David chuckled and pulled himself up onto his knees, his worries once again fading for a brief instant. “Am I now?”  
  
“Yeah!” Max said matter-of-factly. “And we’re gonna beat you up!”  
  
David placed his hands on his hips. “Oh, are you? Well, do you have a superhero name?”  
  
Max’s face scrunched up as he thought for a moment. “Max.”  
  
“Okay, but wouldn’t that be your secret identity?” David pointed out. “I mean, that’s how all the bad guys will find you when you’re trying to live as a civilian, right?”  
  
Max tilted his head. “What’s a civil-lan?”  
  
“It means a normal, everyday person,” David explained. “Like Clark Kent when he’s not Superman.”  
  
“Who’s Superman?”  
  
“He’s one of the very first superheroes,” David said, and made a flexing motion with his arms. “He’s super strong and fast, and almost nothing can beat him!”  
  
“Ooooh,” Max said in awe, as he imitated David’s pose. “Can I be super strong too?”  
  
“Sure, why not?” David said cheerfully. “And your superhero name can be—” He tapped his lip thoughtfully for a moment. “...Mo...gar?”  
  
“Mogar!” Max repeated, as if it was the most exciting word in the world. “Mogar! Mogar!”  
  
David’s smile widened. “Well then, Mogar, I guess I’d better get to work on my evil plans for, uh...world domination, or something! So you can come beat me up—”  
  
“I’m gonna beat you up now!”  
  
Without warning, Max began hitting David with Mr. Honeynuts as hard as he could. Though, being three-years-old and with a plush bear as his weapon, it did nothing but make David fall over onto the floor in a bout of laughter. “Okay, okay, you win!” he said between giggles. “You win, I’m defeated!”  
  
“Yeah, Mogar wins!” Max cheered triumphantly. “I’m the best!”  
  
“Yes, you are,” David said amusedly, as he pulled himself up into a sitting position again. “But now what are you going to do when I come back even stronger—”  
  
Once again, his words were cut off as Max came at him with his teddy bear and he found himself back on the ground in another fit of laughter. “Okay, _okay_ , no more hitting,” he said, with only the faintest hint of a stern tone. “At least gift me a chance to make my escape!”  
  
“Nuh-uh!” Max said. “The superhero has to beat up the bad guy!”  
  
“But if the superhero _always_ does that, then the bad guy will be dead and he won’t have a bad guy to fight anymore,” David pointed out.  
  
While Max paused his relentless onslaught of teddy bear hits to think about this statement, David took the opportunity to scramble to his feet and make his way to the nearest couch with a laugh. “Ha! Don’t let the villain trick you into letting your guard down!”  
  
“Hey, come back here!”  
  
Max hurried after him while David hopped up onto the couch (while also carefully removing his shoes in the process; no sense in dirtying up the police station’s nice couches) and moved away from Max as he approached. “You’ll have to catch me!” he said, a goofy grin plastered on his face.  
  
It seemed to do the trick, and Max was laughing harder than ever as he continued to chase David around the room, all while he waved Mr. Honeynuts over his head like some kind of plush flail. David was laughing right along with him, his worrying thoughts finally falling silent as he dodged around the furniture to avoid Max’s ‘wrath’.  
  
“You’d better catch me, Mogar!” he said playfully, as he maneuvered around the small coffee table between the couches. “Or else I’m going to steal the world’s supply of...uh…”  
  
“Chocolate pudding?” Max asked.  
  
“Exactly!” David said, his expression becoming thoughtful. “Which, if you really think about it, doesn’t make me _that_ much of a villain, because if I must be honest, there are much healthier snacks that—”  
  
“You’re a boring dummy face!” Max said, as he raised his teddy bear over his head. “And I’m gonna get you!”  
  
David thought quickly and stepped back before Max could stop his swing, and Mr. Honeynuts collided with a small, artificial potted plant that was situated in the very center of the coffee table. The force of the hit made the fake plant fly off the table and hit the nearby wall with a surprisingly loud clattering sound.  
  
With a chuckle, David hurried over to pick it up. “Whoops, guess we got a little too carried away,” he said amusedly as he turned over the cracked flower pot in his hand. “But hey, the most intense battles of good and evil always involve some kind of property damage—”  
  
His words died in his throat when he turned back to Max in order to place the potted plant back on the table. Instead of looking just as amused by the situation, Max’s face was unusually pale and his expression horrified as he stared at the cracked object in front of him. An expression that was right at home with the one David had seen on Max’s face earlier, before the incident with the car.  
  
Suddenly, the lights went out completely and the room was enveloped in complete darkness. David froze in place, as he held out a hand in front of him. “Max—”  
  
A frightened shriek from Max’s direction silenced David, and he felt something small push past him and race for the doorway in a fit of tears.  
  
“Max, come back!”  
  
David fumbled to remove his phone from his pocket again and shined the light in the direction of the doorway as he hurried after Max. He peered out into the darkened hallway, and shined his light in both directions.  
  
“Max, where are you?!” he yelled frantically, while he continued to look back and forth down the hall as if Max would suddenly appear once he turned his head. “Please come back!”  
  
“Davey?”  
  
David flinched as a beam of light hit him square in the face, and he placed a hand over his eyes. “Sal? Is that you?”  
  
“Sorry about the lights,” Sal said, as he shined his flashlight in another direction so David could see. “I think the storm tripped the power. But we should be getting it back up before too long—”  
  
His voice trailed off. “David, what’s wrong? You’re crying.”  
  
David pressed a hand to his face and realized that his cheeks were now wet with tears. “Can...can you help me find Max?” he managed to ask, his voice shaking. 

* * *

 “The desks on the north side of the precinct are a no-go.”  
  
Sal nodded, and shined his flashlight down at his clipboard. “Let’s check the bathrooms again.”  
  
David had expected both the search for Max and the lack of power in the police station to be resolved quickly. However, it had been about twenty minutes since they began their search and not only were the lights above their heads still dark, but not even half a dozen officers could locate the missing child within their own building.  
  
“Max, where are you?” David called for the millionth time, as he shined the flashlight he’d been given around the room again. “Please…answer me...”  
  
“Do you have any idea where he might’ve gone, Davey?” Sal asked. “Or why he ran off in the first place?”  
  
David tensed up. He had been hoping to discuss the matter with Sal _after_ they had located Max. “I—”  
  
“Found him!”  
  
David breathed a sigh of relief as Terry stepped into the room, a sobbing and wriggling Max cradled in his arms. “He was hiding under one of the tables in the break room,” Terry said sympathetically as he patted Max’s back and offered him to David. “Poor kid’s not having a good time.”  
  
“No! No!” Max was saying over and over as he tried and failed to break free of Terry’s grasp. “No!”  
  
“It’s okay, Max,” David said as he held out his arms so Terry could hand him Max. “The lights will come back on soon.”  
  
“NO!”  
  
David froze, giving Max enough time to squirm out of his grasp and fall to the ground, before he raced towards the nearest desk and crawled beneath it. David followed after and knelt down beside the desk. “Max—”  
  
Max looked up at him, his face a mess of tears and snot. “G...Go away…”  
  
David gave him a sad look. “Max…”  
  
Max scooted away from him. “Go away!”  
  
“Max, I’m only here to help…” David said.  
  
“No, no, no!” Max sobbed, as more tears began to fall. “Y-You’re gonna call Mommy! And Mommy’s gonna be angry because I broked the lights and the f-flowers!”  
  
“Shhhh, it’s okay,” David said. “It’s okay, Max. You didn’t break the lights. The storm knocked out the power. And I know Sal’s not going to be mad at you for breaking the flower pot. You were just having fun.”  
  
“What’s all this now?” Sal asked from behind him.  
  
David looked up at him. “We were playing before the lights went out—he really wanted to before we answered questions, Sal—and he knocked the little fake plant off the table in the soft room.”  
  
“Oh, that?” Sal asked, and knelt down beside David. “That’s nothing to worry about. Costs two bucks to get another one, Max.”  
  
“See, Max?” David said. “Sal’s not mad.”  
  
“But...But _Mommy’s_ gonna be mad!” Max wailed, and messily wiped his face with his sleeve. “A-And she’s scary when she’s mad! That’s how come I went to the park!”  
  
David raised an eyebrow. “You went to—”  
  
Max sniffled a bit and hugged his legs closer as more tears began to fall. “I don’t w-wanna go home to Mommy…Mommy’s gonna be mad because I’m bad and she doesn’t like it when I’m bad!”  
  
It felt as if every worry David had experienced that evening, every shred of doubt or concern over Max’s safety, well-being, or home life, had finally come crashing down onto him like an anvil from an old cartoon over Max’s outburst.  
  
The way Max had reacted to the yelling earlier. The way he had reacted to being told that the police station was a place where bad people got punished. The way his hand would tense up for a moment whenever David would take it. The violent ways he’d show his unhappiness when he was upset.  
  
The fact that Max had latched onto the teddy bear with the blue ribbon and the blue rain gear because it was apparently the same color as his blanket (something to hide beneath when monsters attacked) or the color of his closet door (a place to hide when his mother was angry). The way he had latched onto anything blue for similar reasons.  
  
Blue meant safety, blue was a place to hide, blue was comfort from an angry parent…  
  
An angry parent who, David now knew, couldn’t be anything less than cruel.  
  
The tears rolled down David’s cheeks before he could stop them as his body trembled out of sorrow and guilt. He should have told Sal right away. He _knew_ something had felt wrong, he knew he hadn’t just been assuming the worst…  
  
The metaphorical anvil seemed to slide off his head as a new, sudden wave of realization overtook the guilt. He...hadn’t been assuming the worst. He hadn’t been worried because he was cruel or selfish. He had been worried because there was something to actually worry about.  
  
He...he could _help_ Max.  
  
He looked at Sal, who’s shocked expression mirrored his own. “Sal, I need you to do something for me.”  
  
“I…” Sal collected himself. “Of course, Davey, what is it?”  
  
“I need you to go to the soft room and get me Max’s teddy bear,” David instructed, as an idea began to form in his mind. “Also I need to know what’s in the room with the blue door in the hallway, and whether or not I’d be able to take Max there until he calms down.”  
  
“Our briefing room?” Sal asked and rose to his feet. “Of course. Just let me make sure no information for any of our cases is set up in there first.”  
  
David nodded, and watched him go before he turned back to Max. “Max—’  
  
“No, no…” Max muttered softly, his legs pulled close to his chest.  
  
“Max, I’m not going to yell…” he said in a soft voice. “And I’m not going to tell your mommy what happened, okay?”  
  
Max looked up from his knees. “You’re not gonna tell?”  
  
“Of course not,” David said. “You did nothing wrong.”  
  
Max once again wiped the snot and tears from his face. “I don’t wanna go home to M-Mommy…” he said with a hiccup. “I d-don’t wanna go…”  
  
“I know, Max,” David said. “You don’t have to. In fact, I’m going to take you somewhere better. You remember the blue door you saw in the hallway earlier? We’re gonna go in there and wait until they turn the lights back on, and Sal is going to get Mr. Honeynuts for you to hold onto while we wait. Would you like that?”  
  
Max’s teary eyes went wide. “I like blue.”  
  
“I know you do,” David said with a smile as he held out his hand for Max. “That’s why we’re going to wait in the blue room until the lights come back. We don’t have to, if you don’t want to. But we’ll have Mr. Honeynuts, and it’ll be nice and quiet.”  
  
Max sniffed a bit and practically threw himself into David’s arms as he broke down into sobs again. David shushed him gently and held him close as he rose to his feet and headed for the briefing room where he knew Sal would be waiting for them.

* * *

Max was quiet after David made them comfortable in the briefing room, but the tears continued to roll down his chubby little cheeks as they waited for the lights to return. David continued to hold him close, gently rubbing his back every so often to keep him calm. He could hear the rest of the police station outside the room as they attempted to restore the power in the building, but the darkened ceiling lights above suggested they were making little progress.  
  
And with nothing to focus on in the darkness but the little boy in his arms, David once again found himself deep in thought about the evenings of the evening.  
  
He’d been worried about Max being neglected or abused by his mother, and he’d been anxious about jumping to conclusions based on his own experiences, and he’d suspected that Max’s mother had been less than ideal. He’d been paranoid, he’d been anxious, and he’d felt guilty over the possibility that his worries were all simply a result of his own bad experiences.  
  
But as he stared down at the sniffling child in his arms, in a dark room with only the dim bulb of the flashlight that Sal had given him to brighten things up and the faint sound of rain pounding against the roof above their heads, he realized that...not once had he ever considered that Max had left on his own.  
  
Max had tried to steal food from him, because he definitely couldn’t go back to his mother for food after running away. He’d been hesitant to go with David to look for his mother, and had only agreed when things like junk food or toys or safety (things that had likely been a luxury or rarity under his mother’s care) had been promised to him.  
  
The way Kevin had described Max’s mother; a woman with a cold, terrifying aura that made it clear she would not accept anything less than perfection. The way he had reacted to being yelled at, even when the yelling hadn’t been angry. The unusually violent reactions whenever he was upset, likely a defense mechanism to protect himself.  
  
He was only three years old, and already had to think and act like a child much older than himself, all in order to survive living with a parent like that.  
  
“It’s still dark…”  
  
Max’s voice broke David from his thoughts, and he gently stroked Max’s back again. “I know...they should be done fixing the lights soon.”  
  
“Are they gonna call Mommy when the lights come back?” Max asked.  
  
David hugged him closer. “Absolutely not. Not if I have anything to say about it. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that you don’t have to go home with your mother.”  
  
Max sniffed a bit. “But where am I gonna go if I don’t go home with Mommy?”  
  
David paused for a moment. “...Do you want to hear a story, Max?”  
  
Max sniffed and looked up at him. “A story?”  
  
“It’s not a very happy story, I’m afraid,” David admitted. “But it’s an important one.”  
  
“I d-don’t want to hear a sad story,” Max said, his voice wavering.  
  
“Well, it does have a somewhat happy ending,” David said. “It’s about a young boy.”  
  
Max wiped his eyes and looked up at David. “Like me?”  
  
“Well, sort of,” David said. “This boy was a little bit older. About fourteen years old.”  
  
Max’s lip curled into a pout. “That’s not a boy, that’s old!”  
  
David’s lip curled into a half-smile. “Well, in any case, there was a boy,” he continued. “And he was...well, he was very happy. He loved things like camping and nature, and his parents very, very much.”  
  
David’s expression saddened. “But sadly, his parents did not love him as much as he loved them. They were often very cruel and cold to him, to the point where they would often leave him places and forget to pick him up, simply because they didn’t care about him. And the boy would overlook this sort of behavior, simply because...he didn’t want to assume the worst in people. He didn’t want to be cruel and he didn’t want to be mean. He had acted that way when he was younger, and he certainly didn’t want to go back to acting like that.”  
  
David bit his lip. “But then one summer, he went to camp and by the time it was time for his parents to come pick him up, they never came.”  
  
The tears faded for a moment as Max looked back up at him. “They didn’t?”  
  
David shook his head. “The boy did everything he could, but despite a lot of people helping him look for them, his parents were nowhere to be found. It turns out that they had left the boy at the camp on purpose, simply because they no longer wanted him for a son.”  
  
Max’s eyes began to well up with tears again. “I don’t like this story…”  
  
“I don’t like it much either,” David said sadly. “But there is some good news! The boy was adopted by the very nice man who ran the camp he went to, and he started a new life with new people.”  
  
His expression softened, and he closed his eyes as his thoughts drifted to Gwen. To Kevin, to Sal, to Mr. Campbell, to everyone who had helped him during the hardest part of his life. “They all cared about him very much, and he loved them all. And even if he was lonely at times, he still had all of them in his life to help him through the hard times. And in the end, he wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world, not even his old parents. Because as he looked back on the way his parents used to treat him, he...he realized something.”  
  
“What?” Max asked.  
  
David hugged him closer. “He didn’t deserve their cruelty. He didn’t deserve to be treated like he had been by them. Parents are supposed to love their children and care for them unconditionally, not be cruel to them. And...and the boy knew that even though it hurt to think about them, and how they treated him, he was much better off without them in his life.”  
  
David felt his eyes growing watery and he reached up to brush away his tears. “You don’t deserve to be treated like how your Mommy treats you, Max,” he continued. “You don’t deserve to feel like you need to run away from home in order to feel safe. You deserve to grow up safe and happy, with parents who love you. And...And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you get all that. But I’ll need your help, okay?”  
  
“Help?” Max asked softly.  
  
“It’s going to be scary to talk about the things your Mommy did,” David said. “But...if you tell Sal about her, I...I promise that she’ll never be able to hurt you again. And I won’t stop doing everything I can to help keep that promise. Do you understand?”  
  
Max sniffed and wiped his eyes. “I won’t have to go home with Mommy?”  
  
“No you won’t,” David assured him.  
  
“...Can I go home with you?”  
  
The question silenced David for a moment as he stared at Max. “You...want to come home with me?”  
  
Max nodded. “You’re nice and you buy me nice things and teach me words like please, and you’re really smart for a Dummy.” Max nestled his head against David’s shoulder as his voice took on the mumble of a young child running on fumes. “And you don’t yell at me like Mommy does. You’re like a grown-up, but not scary…”  
  
David let his hand fall to Max’s back again as his thoughts began to wander. It had only been a few hours ago that he and Gwen had discussed him becoming a father. He’d been so excited, his head filled with romanticized notions of parenthood and family.  
  
He thought back to everything that had happened that evening. Worrying thoughts and concerns, fleeting moments of panic and anxiety… Nothing he’d been expecting or, at the very least, considering when thoughts of being a father flooded through his head.  
  
He looked down at Max in his arms as his thoughts continued to race through the evening’s events. Picking out food and clothing for him, gifting him a cherished toy, teaching him new things, comforting him when he was upset…  
  
All things that a parent should, by default, do for their child.  
  
But...Max’s mother hadn’t been the one to do all that for him. And she wasn’t the one seated in the middle of a darkened police station briefing room while she attempted to calm down her hysterical son. She hadn’t been the one to save him from an approaching storm.  
  
And for all David knew, she hadn’t even cared one bit that her son had run away. If she had truly cared about finding him, she would’ve been out there looking for him and likely bumped into David during his search. If she had cared about her son, she would’ve called the police station in the time it took David to walk him there. If she had cared about her son, she wouldn’t have...  
  
...Well, if she had cared about her son, he wouldn’t be here at all. He’d be at home, safe and happy and comfortable while the rain poured outside his window.  
  
But...David cared about Max. He cared so much about the little boy with such beautiful curls and soft green eyes. The little boy who loved the color blue and teddy bears and chocolate pudding. The little boy who was so easily prone to lashing out, but who at the end of the day was just a frightened three-year-old trying to keep himself safe.  
  
The little boy who deserved to be happy.  
  
David’s embrace around Max tightened the slightest amount as his thoughts began to race again, this time on the topic of him becoming a father. He was still too young, and it would be years before he was ready to become a parent.  
  
But…  
  
He had no idea what would become of Max by the time he finished college. He had no idea if Max would end up with a family who would love and support him, even during his worst moments, or if they would eventually give up on him and pass him along to another family. He had no idea if Max would grow up happy, or continue to be mistreated as he grew older.  
  
Max needed help _now_. He needed a parent who would love him _now_.  
  
He looked down at Max again. Even by the dim light of his flashlight that lay on the floor beside them, he could see Max’s eyelids beginning to droop, as if he were struggling to stay awake. David gently rocked him back and forth in an attempt to help him drift off to sleep.  
  
David tensed up as realization overtook him. His first thoughts in regards to that hadn’t been ‘he could always adopt a child after graduation’. It had been ‘but what would happen to Max in the meantime’?  
  
He...he didn’t want to give Max up. He didn’t want to go through life without knowing what the poor boy was going through. He didn’t want to send him off to another family that could very well mistreat him like his own mother had done. Like David’s parents had done to _him_.  
  
He...he wanted to adopt Max. It was more than just him wanting to be a parent or him wanting to fill Mr. Campbell’s lonely house with laughter and joy; he wanted to make sure Max grew up safe and happy, with a parent who loved and adored him more than life itself. He wanted to give Max the life he hadn’t gotten as a child; a life where he could be the one to help instead of the one who always needed help. Where he could be the one comforting Max during the hardest times instead of being the one always needing comfort. Where he could show the boy kindness after a lifetime of cruelty.  
  
Perhaps there were other parents out there who _would_ love him more than life itself, ones with plenty of experience in parenting. But David had no way of knowing if Max would find them right away. And after the things he’d seen that night, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to even take the risk of sending Max off with only the slightest possibility that he might find them.  
  
He gently stroked Max’s curls as the lights in the room suddenly flickered back on, and Max stirred a bit.  
  
“Mmm, the lights are back…” Max said sleepily.  
  
“Yeah, they are,” David said in a gentle voice as he carefully rose to his feet, Max still held close to his chest. “You can go back to sleep, Max. Everything’s going to be okay…”  
  
Max yawned a bit and snuggled up against David’s shoulder again as they headed for the door.

* * *

“How’s he holding up?”  
  
“He’s alright now,” David said. “Fell asleep before we even reached the soft room.”  
  
“Yeah, that’s not surprising,” Sal said. “He’s had a pretty eventful day.”  
  
David nodded, his gaze dropping to his hands. “Sal...about earlier…”  
  
“Yes, I think we should talk about that…” Sal said. “About how Max acted when the lights when out.”  
  
“I think Max’s mother is abusing him,” David said quickly before he could stop himself. “Verbally abusing him, to be specific, but it…it could be more than just that. I’ve been seeing signs all night, and the only reason I didn’t speak up about it was because I didn’t want to just assume without any proof. But...but with how he was acting earlier, I think it’s more than obvious that something’s wrong.”  
  
He clenched his hands into fists. “And, yes, before you ask, I am sure. More sure than I’ve been all evening. And—”  
  
“David, breathe for a second,” Sal said. “It’s okay. I believe you.”  
  
“You...you do?”  
  
Sal nodded with a heavy sigh. “In my experience, there’s only a few explanations for why a child would freak out like that at the thought of being returned to his parents and none of them are pleasant. And if _you’re_ coming to me with these claims, I know that you’re not just tossing them out without fully trusting your gut.”  
  
David swallowed, his voice growing a lot more confident. “I realize there’s probably a lot I’ll have to do to prove what I’m saying is true, but—”  
  
“Do you want to fill out a report against her, David?”  
  
He looked up at Sal again. “Yes, I do. But...but that’s not all I want to do.”  
  
Sal raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”  
  
David took a deep breath. “Sal, I want you to help me get my foster license.”  
  
Sal sighed again.  “David, we’ve talk about this before. You’re not eighteen yet, and this is a human child who needs proper care, one who will grow up—”  
  
“I _know_ how much care goes into raising a child!” David said suddenly and rose to his feet. “I’ve spent all evening taking care of one, one who’s own mother clearly didn’t give enough of a...of a damn to give him that care in the first place! And I know I’m not eighteen yet, but...but I know that I want to be a parent. I’ve known that ever since my own parents left me, and after everything that happened tonight, I know that more than ever, I want to bring happiness into the life of a child who needs it.”  
  
He began to frantically pace in front of Sal’s desk. “And...and it’s more than just me wanting to be a parent. I want to help _Max_. I want to make _Max_ happy. He’s only three years old, but...he’s already been through as much as I have, if not more. I...I can’t let him go through more pain, Sal. I can’t just send him off to another family without knowing that he’ll be cared for and loved like he deserves.”  
  
He froze in place, his shoulders low. “I know I’m too young. But...I know I’m willing to put in the effort to raise him properly. And I’ll do whatever it takes to prove that…”  
  
He fell silent, inhaling and exhaling heavily as he waited for Sal to respond. After a few moments of silence, his expression turned horrified and he sank into one of the empty chairs. “I’m sorry, Sal… I’m just very tired and overwhelmed and—”  
  
“Davey, listen to me,” Sal said. “You’re too young—”  
  
“Sal…”  
  
“Let me finish,” Sal continued. “You’re too young...but at the same time, after everything you’ve done tonight to help that boy…” He paused for a moment. “If you’re this serious about becoming a parent, I... _might_ be able to pull some strings and get in contact with some people I know in that area of government. People who’d be willing to let you at least _try_ and take the classes necessary to get your license.”  
  
David’s eyes widened. “You mean it?”  
  
“ _I can’t promise anything_ ,” Sal said quickly. “And you’ll have to take all the tests, and likely pass with flying colors in order for them to even _consider_ bending the rules for you—”  
  
“Oh, of course!” David said. “I wouldn’t imagine that the process is easy. In fact, I don’t _want_ it to be easy. I want to prove how serious I am about this!”  
  
“And I can’t just give you Max now,” Sal said. “He will have to go to a temporary home. Possibly a permanent one if you fail to meet the requirements necessary. Not to mention none of this can happen without your guardian’s permission, so we'll have to get that before we do anything else.”  
  
“Of course,” David said again. “I wouldn’t dream of doing any of this without an okay from Mr. Campbell.”  
  
Sal let out a low whistle. “I can’t promise that this will turn out how you want it to, David. You might not even be allowed to take the tests at all at your age. But we’ll make some calls in the morning and see what we can do.”  
  
David nodded and rose to his feet. “Thank you for doing all this for me, Sal. I really appreciate it.”  
  
Sal smiled at him. “You’re a good kid, Davey. And while I don’t want you to get your hopes up too high, I want you to know that you’re doing a really good thing, helping out that kid like you are. Whatever happens to him, I know he’ll really appreciate having someone in his life who cares about him as much as you do.”  
  
David smiled and gave Sal a final nod before he headed back towards the soft room.

* * *

“I wanna stay with Dummy!”  
  
“It’s okay, Max,” David said softly. “It’s only for a little while, alright? I’m going to do everything I can to get you back, but for now you’ll have to go with your social worker.”  
  
“I don’t want to…” Max said, tears forming at the corner of his eyes as he attempted and failed to hold onto David for dear life while the social worker picked him up. “I don’t want to!”  
  
“It’ll only be for a little while, Max,” the social worker assured him in a gentle voice. “David just has to get certified as—”  
  
“No!” Max screeched, while tears poured down his face. “I wanna stay with Dummy! _Please!_ ”  
  
David felt his heart shatter at Max’s genuine use of the word ‘please’ and he could feel his chest ache and tears welling up in his eyes as he reached for the teddy bear that was seated atop his backpack. “Max, look who I have,” he said, and held out Mr. Honeynuts in front of him for Max to take.  
  
Max’s eyes went wide and he practically threw himself against the stuffed bear, his arms wrapping it in a tight embrace and his face pressed against the soft fur.  
  
“You have to go for a little bit,” David told him. “Only for a little bit, okay? But you remember what I promised you last night? How I said I was going to do everything I can to help you?”  
  
Max sniffled and nodded. “But...but I don’t want to go! I said please!”  
  
“Yes, you did, and that was very good,” David said. “But in order for you to stay with me, I have to do a lot of official adult stuff first. And that means you have to stay with another family for the time being.”  
  
Max looked down at the floor. “But…”  
  
“And while you’re staying with them, you can keep Mr. Honeynuts with you,” David continued. “You can play with him and tell him stories…”  
  
“But I wanna tell _you_ stories!” Max protested. “How come I can’t stay with you?”  
  
“Well, Max, I have to do a lot so I can actually gain custody of you,” David explained. “I want to make sure I’m completely prepared to have you come live with me.”  
  
“That’s right, kiddo!” Mr. Campbell said proudly, a hand clamped on David’s shoulder. “Davey here’s going to go through Hell and back just to make sure you have a roof over your head and a warm bed at the end of the day. And I, Cameron Campbell, will have opened my home to _two_ wonderful children in need by the end of the process.”  
  
“So why can’t you be the one to foster the boy?” Terry asked from his desk.  
  
“What, are you mad?” Mr. Campbell asked him. “I’ve already got my hands full with work, and the older kid knows how to take care of himself. I don’t have time to stay home and raise another kid, _Terry_. Besides, Davey seems real keen on this one and I wouldn’t dare break his heart by taking the opportunity to be a parent away from him.”  
  
Max stared up at him with a pout, before he looked back at David. “He says a lot of big words. I don’t like him.”  
  
David chuckled. “Now, Max, Mr. Campbell is very nice. And if you come to live with me, you’ll be living at his house. It’s in the middle of Lake Lilac, on an island.”  
  
“A island?” Max asked.  
  
“That’s right,” David said. “Do you like to go swimming?”  
  
Max nodded. “Uh-huh…”  
  
“Well, we’ll be able to go swimming all the time!” David said. “And we’ll get to ride on boats, and—”  
  
“Go to the park?” Max asked.  
  
“Of course!” David said. “We can go to the park together, and do a bunch of stuff together once you’re living with me. But for right now, I need you to go with the lady so I can make sure we _can_ do all of that together.”  
  
He gently cupped one of Max’s chubby little cheeks in one hand. “We both have to be really strong right now, okay? I know it’ll be hard. But I promise you that I’m going to do everything I can to give you the life you deserve. No more scary yelling, or hiding from people who want to punish you just for being yourself. But that’ll only happen if you go with the nice lady now.”  
  
The tears began to well up in Max’s eyes again as he threw himself into David’s arms and sobbed against his shoulder. “I d-don’t wanna go…”  
  
David held him close and gently rubbed his back, his own tears beginning to fall. “I know, Max,” he said in a hushed tone, as sudden inspiration struck. “But do you remember how we were playing superheroes last night and you were pretending to be Mogar?”  
  
“Uh-huh,” Max said, and reached up to wipe his eyes.  
  
“Mogar’s really tough, right?” David asked. “He’s strong and brave and doesn’t let anything stop him, does he?”  
  
Max shook his head no.  
  
“Well, we both have to be like Mogar for now,” David explained. “We both have to be really strong and brave until this whole process is complete.”  
  
“But you’re not Mogar,” Max pointed out. “You’re the bad guy.”  
  
David smiled. “Well...then I’ll be the bad guy for now,” he said. “And I’ll conduct a bunch of evil schemes for you to thwart when you come live with me.”  
  
“Are you gonna steal all the pudding again?” Max asked.  
  
“You’ll just have to see,” David said with a smile of his own. “But in the meantime, you have to be Mogar, okay? You have to get all big and strong so you can come defeat my evil schemes again, okay?”  
  
“Yeah, yeah!” Max said, his smile much wider now. “I’m gonna get strong like Mogar!”  
  
David give him a nod and looked towards the social worker. “Alright, well, you’ll have to go with her now and do that, okay?” he said to Max. “And if you’re really, really good, I promise you that I’ll give you a share of the world’s pudding cups when I steal them all. There will always be pudding in the fridge for you.”  
  
“You promise there will always be pudding?” Max asked.  
  
“I promise.”  
  
Max looked down at Mr. Honeynuts for a moment before he looked back at David. “Okay. I’ll go and get all strong so me and Mr. Honeynuts can beat you up. But no stealing pudding until we can beat you up!”  
  
David let out a laugh as he hugged Max one last time. “I’ll keep that in mind.”  
  
Max hugged him in return, and it took every ounce of David’s self control to keep the hug from lasting forever. But eventually, he let go of Max and watched as his social worker lead him out of the police station.  
  
“Well, we’d better get going as well,” Campbell said cheerfully. “Lord knows we’ll have to get started on all that paperwork and get you signed up for all those classes, right, Davey?”  
  
David looked up at him. “Of course, sir. I want to take the tests as soon as I can!”  
  
“Good luck to you, David,” Sal said with an encouraging smile. “And if everything works out, be sure to bring Max by the police station again to say hello. I know I might be able to keep a stock of those pudding cups he likes so much in the break room in case the two of you stop by.”  
  
David smiled at him. “Thanks, Sal. And thank you so much for everything you’ve done.”  
  
Sal gave him a nod as Mr. Campbell led him towards the exit, and the two of them stepped out of the building into the warm sunlight of the morning.  
  
Sunlight…  
  
David looked up at the sky as they headed for Mr. Campbell’s non-environmentally-friendly car. The clouds from the storm had long since disappeared, and everything was now a beautiful shade of blue.  
  
Blue...  
  
David smiled wider, despite Mr. Campbell’s sudden ramblings about how the media was going to ‘eat up a story about his foster son becoming a foster parent himself’, or how Max was just adorable enough to be Camp Campbell’s new mascot as they headed home.  
  
He had a feeling he’d be seeing plenty of blue in his future.

* * *

“Ugh, _again_ , why can’t we use calculators for our homework?” Gwen asked exasperatedly as she slammed her book shut. “David, why don’t we just wait until—”  
  
She looked towards her friend, who had his gaze once again directed at the nearby playground, and her mouth curled into a smile. “David?”  
  
“Hold on a moment, Gwen,” David said, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Max, you need some help over there?”  
  
Max waved at him from the swingset area, where he stood in front of one of the swings that had Mr. Honeynuts seated on the top. “Mr. Honeynuts is going to fly!”  
  
“Okay, well, just be careful!” David called to him. “And watch out for the swing when it comes back. You remember what Mr. Karl taught you about that?”  
  
“Okay, Dummy!”  
  
With a laugh, Max pushed the swing as hard as he could. Sure enough, the little teddy bear soared off the seat and landed with a soft bump in the nearby grass. Laughing harder, Max raced after him and scooped him up before he hurried towards the table where Gwen and David sat. “Did you see him!”  
  
“I sure did, Max!” David said with a smile. “You getting tired at all? Want to head home soon?”  
  
Max pointed towards the jungle gym. “No, Nerris and Nikki are gonna go get married by the slides and Mr. Honeynuts is gonna be the ring bear!” He made a face. “Even though weddings are yucky and I don’t ever wanna get married to a boy or girl never!”  
  
“Oh, you don’t?” David asked. “Well, who do you want to marry?”  
  
Max’s face scrunched up thoughtfully. “Buzz Lightyear!”  
  
David heard Gwen let out a snort behind him. “Oh, really?” David said. “But isn’t he a boy?”  
  
“No, he’s a space guy,” Max said matter-of-factly.  
  
David chuckled. “Well, okay, you can go play with your friends for a little longer. But we have to stop by the general store before we head down to the docks, so we have to leave soon, okay? Maybe we can say hi to Kevin while we’re there.”  
  
“Yeah, Kevin! Yeah!” Max said excitedly, as he hopped up and down in place. “Is he gonna give me a lollipop again like last time? Or some of the butterflies?”  
  
Gwen let out a snort while David’s face went red. “Now, Max, I’ve told you before that the, uh, butterflies are only for adults,” he explained. “However, I think he might be happy to give you a lollipop if you ask him!”  
  
“Yeah! I want a lollipop!” Max said excitedly, and clapped his hands together.  
  
“We’ll just have to see if he has one when we go,” David said fondly and pointed towards the playground. “In the meantime, you’d better not keep all your friends waiting!”  
  
Max nodded and hurried off to join a group of young children by the slide. David watched him go with a fond smile and a heart full of joy. He’d been making so many new friends during their visits to the park together.  
  
“Have I mentioned how much I love that kid?” Gwen said.  
  
David chuckled. “You might’ve mentioned it, yeah.”  
  
“But not as much as you love him, right?” Gwen asked.  
  
“Of course,” David said, with another glance in Max’s direction, his blue jacket making him a speedy, blue blur as he chased after his friends.  
  
Blue...  
  
Blue like the little bow around Mr. Honeynuts’ neck. Blue like the color of Max’s bedclothes and the majority of his clothing. Blue like Max’s favorite crayon, which he had used to draw most of the drawings that covered Mr. Campbell’s fridge back at the house. Blue like the little life jacket that David had bought for him so he’d be safe whenever they boated home from the docks.  
  
Blue like the signature on his foster license and the tears of joy he cried when he finally gained official custody of Max after so many sleepless nights of study and classes and paperwork. Blue like the balloons he bought for Max when he went to go pick him up one the first official day as his father and blue like the faint light of Max’s nightlight when he tucked him into his new bed in his new home that first evening.  
  
Blue like a clear, welcoming sky after what felt like a lifetime of storms.  
  
“David? Our homework?”  
  
David tore his gaze from Max and turned back to face Gwen. “Sorry, Gwen,” he said, his smile widening. “What problem were we on?”


End file.
